11  ii    i      iii  i 


ii!^HlUiHl!;iif!i!H!im!)if 


BARBAROUS  SOVIE 

RUSSlA"'1lii 

ISAAC  Mc BRIDE  I 


(|l;.'i 


»l''llt.')l>ll>) 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/barbaroussovietrOOmcbr 


BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'* 


Mujjks 


Pogroms 


Droshkys,  Dancing  the  Ktetnlln 


A  Samovar,  flaying  on  his  Ukraine  ^^  qj^j^ 

MR.  AVERAGE  MAN's  IMPRESSION  OP  THE  MEANING  OF 


CERTAIN    RUSSIAN    WORDS 


Copr.   Life  Pub.   Co. 


''Barbarous  Soviet  Russia'' 


By 
ISAAC  McBRIDE 


New  York 
THOMAS  SELTZER 

1920 


Copyright,  1920, 
By  Thoimas  Seltzer,  Inc. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  Araerica 

All  Rights  Reserved 


DK 


TO 

NINA  LANE  McBRIDE 


Acknowledgment  is  hereby  made 
to  the  "Christian  Science  Monitor," 
*^ Universal  Service"  (Hearst),  and 
**Asia  Magazine"  for  courtesies  ex- 
tended, in  using  some  of  the  mate- 
rial that  appeared  in  those  publica- 
tions. 


CONTENTS 

——■^——  rAat 

CHAFTEC 

Preface •      ^ 

I.  Entering  Red  Land  ....     13 
II.    With  the  Red  Soldiers   ...     21 

III.  On  to  Moscow      ......    41 

IV.  Moscow .51 

V.  Interview  With  Lenin    ...     64 

VI.  Wlio  Is  Lenin? 72 

VII.  Petrograd 87 

VIII.     Bolshevik  Leaders— Brief 

Sketches 102 

IX.    Women  and  Children     .      .     .112 

X.     Government  Industry  and 

Agriculture 120 

XL     Propaganda    .....••  138 

XIL     Coming  Out  of  Soviet  Russia    .  144 

Appendix 157 

I.     Code  of  Labor  Laws  ....  159 

II.  Resolutions  Adopted  at  the  Con- 

ference of  the  Second  All- 
Russian  Congress  of  Trades 
Unions   . 1^1 

5 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  FACE  M 

III.  Financial  Policy  and  Results  of  " 

the  Activities  of  the  People's 
Commissariat  of  Finance      .  241 

IV.  Reports:    (a)  Metal  Industry; 

(h)  Development  of  Rural 
Industries;  (c)  Nationaliza- 
tion of  Agriculture     .„     .,     .  255 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Mr.  Average  Man's  Impression  of  the  Meaning  of 
Certain  Russian  Words  .      .      .     Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Red  Army's  Infantry  Division 22 

Trotzky,  Commissar  of  War  and  ^larine     ...  30 

Lenin  and  Mrs.  Lenin,  Moscow,  1919 38 

Lenin  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Kremlin,  Moscow, 

Summer  of  1919 46 

Lenin  at  his  desk  in  the  Kremlin,  1919  ....  54 

Lenin  in  Switzerland,  March,  1919 62 

Exterior  and  Interior  of  Lenin's  Home  in  Zurich    .  70 

Gorky  and  Zinovieff 78 

Zinovieff,  President  of  the  Petrograd  Soviet  ...  86 

Chicherin,  Commissar  of  Foreign  Affairs   ...  94 

Litvinoff,  Assistant  Commissar  of  Foreign  Affairs  .  102 

Children  of  the  Soviet  School  at  Dietskoe  Selo  .     .  110 

Mrs.  Lenin  visiting  a  Soviet  School 118 

Soviet  Propaganda  Train 126 

"Red  Terror" 142 


Preface 

OF  the  five  weeks  I  spent  in  Soviet  Rus- 
sia ten  days  were  spent  in  Moscow 
and  eight  in  Petrograd.  The  remainder  of 
the  time  I  traveled  along  the  Western  Front, 
from  the  Esthonian  border  to  Moghilev,  with 
leisurely  stops  at  Pskov,  Vitebsk,  Polotzk, 
Smolensk,  and  numerous  small  towns.  I  tried 
to  see  as  much  as  possible  of  this  vast  and  un- 
known land  in  the  shoii;  time  at  my  disposal, 
and  I  tried  especially  to  check  up  from  first- 
hand observation  some  of  the  many  things  I 
had  heard  on  the  outside.  I  also  tried  to  test 
the  truth  of  what  was  told  me  in  Russia  it- 
self,— ^to  find  visible  evidence  of  the  fairness 
of  the  claims  made.  Some  popular  fancies 
were  quickly  dispelled.  Disproof  of  others 
came  sometimes  in  vividly  concrete  fashion. 

Soviet  Russia  is  not  unanimously  Bolshe- 
vist, any  more  than  the  United  States  has 
ever  been  unanimously  Democratic  or  Re- 
publican, or  Prohibitionist.  The  speculators 
are  not  Bolshevist,  nor  are  the  irreconcilable 
bourgeoisie,  nor  the  Monarchists,  nor  the  Ca- 
dets nor  the  Menshevists,  nor  the  Social  Rev- 
olutionists and  Anarchists.   Nevertheless  Rus- 

9 


10      ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA' » 

sia  stands  overwhelmingly  in  support  of  the 
Soviet  Government,  just  as  the  United  States 
stands  overwhelmingly  in  support  of  Congress 
and  the  Constitution.  There  are  many  who  are 
opposed  to  Soviet  rule  in  its  present  form,  and 
this  opposition  is  not  confined  to  the  old  bour- 
geoisie and  the  anarchists.  It  prevails  to  a  cer- 
tain extent — variously  estimated — among  the 
peasants.  But  it  is  an  opposition  which 
ceases  at  the  military  frontier  of  the  nation. 
I  found  many  critics  of  Soviet  rule  within 
Soviet  Russia,  but  they  insisted  that  what- 
ever changes  are  to  be  made  in  the  govern- 
ment must  be  made  without  foreign  inter- 
ference. At  present  their  first  interest  is  the 
defence  of  Russian  soil  and  the  Russian  state 
against  foreign  assault  and  foreign  inter- 
ference. 

The  peasant  opposition  is  mainly  due  to 
the  deficiencies  in  transportation  and  the 
shortage  of  manufactured  ai-ticles.  They 
blame  this  on  the  govermnent,  much  as  other 
peoples  lay  their  troubles  to  *'the  govern- 
ment." The  peasants  are  reluctant  to  give 
up  their  grain  for  paper  money  which  is  of 
no  value  to  them  unless  it  will  buy  shoes  and 
cloth  and  salt  and  tools,— and  of  these  neces- 
sities there  are  not  enough  to  go  round. 
While  the  blockade  continued  the  government 
was  striving  vigorously  to  overcome  the 
shortage  of  manufactured  articles  brought 
about   by  the   blockade,    knowing   that   this 


PREFACE  11 

alone  would  satisfy  the  peasants.  They 
claimed  to  have  made  encouraging  progress, 
especially  in  the  production  of  agricultural 
machinery,  of  which  they  were  trying  to  have 
the  largest  possible  supply  ready  by  spring. 

Whatever  the  state  of  mind  of  the  peas- 
ants, they  are  certainly  better  off  materially 
than  the  'city  workers.  In  all  the  villages  I 
visited  I  found  the  peasants  faring  much  bet- 
ter than  were  the  Commissars  in  Moscow. 
They  had  plentiful  supplies  of  good  rye 
bread  on  their  tables,  with  butter  and  eggs 
and  milk, — almost  unknown  luxuries  in  the 
cities.  Their  cattle  looked  well  fed  and  well 
cared  for.  It  was  harvest  time  and  the  farm- 
ers were  gathering  in  their  crops.  They  told 
me  that  the  season  had  been  exceptionally 
bountiful. 

I  learned  after  my  return  to  America  that 
there  had  been  a  great  deal  of  agitation 
among  the  upholders  of  the  old  Russian  or- 
der in  this  country  last  summer  and  early 
fall  over  the  pogroms  which  were  said  to 
have  been  carried  on  by  the  Bolsheviki.  I 
found  nothing  but  cooperation  and  sympathy 
and  understanding  between  the  Russians  and 
the  Jews.  There  was  no  discrimination  what- 
soever, as  far  as  I  could  see.  Jews  and  Rus- 
sians share  alike  in  the  councils  of  the  Soviet 
Government  and  in  the  factories  and  work- 
shops. 

In  fact  I  found  nothing  but  the  utmost 


12       ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

kindness  and  good  will  towards  the  whole 
world,  aU  through  E-ussia.  "If  they  will  only 
let  us  alone  they  have  nothing  to  fear  from  us, 
— not  even  propaganda," — was  said  to  me  over 
and  over  again.  There  were  no  threats  made 
against  the  interventionists.  The  Soviet  forces 
merely  went  ahead  and  demonstrated  their 
strength  and  ability  to  defend  themselves,  and 
left  the  record  of  their  achievements  to  speak 
for  itself. 

Isaac  McBride. 
"Kloshe  Illahe," 
Bethel,  Connecticut, 
March,  1920. 


'^Barbarous  Soviet  Russia'* 

CHAPTER  I 
ENTERING  RED  LAND 

YOU  will  never  return  alive.  They  will 
slaughter  you.  They  will  rob  you  of 
everything.  They  will  take  your  clothes  from 
your  very  back." 

With  stubborn  conviction  the  dapper  young 
Lettish  gentleman  spoke  to  me  as  he  at- 
tempted to  change  my  mind  about  going  into 
Soviet  Russia.  He  was  attached  to  the 
Foreign  Information  Bureau  of  Latvia.  He 
had  been  in  Riga  all  through  the  Bolshevist 
regime,  from  November,  1918,  to  May,  1919, 
when  the  German  army  of  occupation  in  the 
Baltic  provinces  drove  them  out.  There  was 
nothing  he  could  not  tell  me  about  that 
regime.  He  was  especially  eager  to  impart 
his  experiences  to  foreign  journalists. 

**Was  it  really  so  terrible,  then?"  I  asked 
him. 

** Nothing  could  have  been  worse,"  he  re- 
peated. **Many  persons  were  killed  by  the 
Bolshevists — I  saw  them  myself — but  not  so 
many    as    when    the    Germans    began    their 

13 


14       ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

slaughter.  There  was  the  Bolshevist  pro- 
gram of  nationalization.  They  nationalized 
the  land.  They  nationalized  the  factories. 
They  nationalized  the  banks  and  the  large 
office  buildings,  and  even  the  residences. 

**  Aristocratic  women  were  taken  from  their 
comfortable  homes  and  forced  to  wait  on 
Bolshevist  Commissars  in  the  Soviet  dining- 
rooms.  One  of  our  leading  citizens,  a  man 
who  through  hard  work  had  accumulated  a 
great  fortime,  was  put  to  work  cleaning 
streets.  His  fine  house  with  thirty  or  forty 
beautiful  rooms,  where  he  lived  quite  alone 
with  his  wife  and  servants,  was  taken  away 
from  him,  and  he  was  moved  into  a  house  in 
another  part  of  the  city  on  a  mean  street 
where  he  had  never  been  before.  His  home 
was  taken  over  by  the  'state'  and  seven  fam- 
ilies of  the  so-called  proletariat  were  lodged 
in  it.  One  of  our  generals  w^as  compelled  to 
sell  newspapers  on  the  streets.  Our  leading 
artists  were  forced  to  paint  lamp  posts — and 
the  color  was  red.  They  made  the  university 
students  cut  ice." 

"And  the  women — did  they  nationalize 
them?'^  I  interrupted. 

"Well,  no,  they  didn't  do  that  here  in 
Riga,"  he  said,  "but  that  was  because  they 
were  not  here  long  enough  to  put  it  into  effect. 
They  were  so  busy  confiscating  property  in 
the  six  months  they  held  sway  that  they  had 
little  time  for  anything  else.    No,  they  didn't 


''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      15 

nationalize  the  women  in  Riga,  but  you  will 
find  they  have  done  so  in  Moscow. 

"But  you  must  not  go  to  Moscow,"  he 
added.  "You  will  surely  never  return  alive — 
but  if  you  do,  please  come  and  tell  me  what 
you  have  seen."  And  mournfully  he  wished 
me  a  safe  journey. 

I  returned  to  the  Foreign  Office  the  next 
day  determined  to  get  permission  at  once  to 
pass  through  the  Lettish  front  into  Soviet 
Russia.  It  was  a  hot  August  day.  Officers 
and  attaches  sat  around  panting,  obviously 
bored  that  any  one  should  come  at  this  time 
to  annoy  them.  Yet  despite  the  heat,  they 
were  willing  enough  to  argue  with  me  when 
they  learned  that  I  wished  to  go  into  Soviet 
Russia.  Like  the  young  man  I  talked  to 
before,  they  tried  hard  to  dissuade  me.  They 
were  full  of  forebodings. 

"You  will  be  robbed  of  the  clothes  on  your 
back  the  minute  you  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Bolshevists,"  they  insisted. 

"You  must  be  crazy,"  said  one  particularly 
friendly  officer,  whose  blonde  hair  stood 
straight  up  from  his  head  so  that  he  looked 
perpetually  frightened. 

"But  I  am  an  American  correspondent,"  I 
repeated  over  and  over  again,  not  knowing 
what  else  to  say. 

"So  that  is  it,"  said  the  officer,  seeming  to 
understand  all  at  once.  And  shortly  after 
that  the  Foreign  Office  at  Riga  decided  to 


16       ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

recommend  the  General  Staff  that  I  be  per- 
mitted to  pass  the  lines.  But  still  they  urged 
me  not  to  go. 

"You  will  .come  back  naked  if  you  come 
back  alive,"  they  shouted  to  me  in  parting. 

I  left  Riga  on  a  troop  train  at  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening  of  September  1,  1919,  bound 
for  Red  Russia.  By  noon  the  following 
day  we  had  reached  a  small  town,  where  I 
disembarked  with  the  soldiers.  The  front 
was  fifteen  versts  away.  There  the  Reds  had 
established  themselves,  I  was  told,  in  old 
German  trenches  near  the  town  of  Levenhoff, 
107  versts  from  Riga. 

I  carried  a  heavy  suitcase,  an  overcoat  and 
an  umbrella,  and  the  thought  of  trudging  in 
the  wake  of  the  less  heavily  caparisoned  sol- 
diers was  discouraging.  I  accosted  a  smart 
young  officer  with  blonde  mustaches.  He  lis- 
tened to  me  with  interest. 

*'I  am  an  American  correspondent,"  I  said, 
*' accredited  to  your  headquarters." 

He  glanced  at  my  papers  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders  with  such  an  air  of  indifference 
that  I  thought  he  was  not  going  to  help  me 
at  all.  But  he  told  me  to  follow  him,  and  a 
short  distance  up  the  road  we  came  upon  a 
peasant  driving  a  crude  hay-rick  drawn  by 
a  single  gaunt  horse. 

After  a  brief  parley,  none  of  which  I  un- 
derstood, the  peasant  got  down  from  his  high 
seat,  hoisted  my  suitcase  into  the  vehicle,  and 


'^BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'^      17 

I  followed  it.  I  sat  flat  on  the  floor  with  my 
feet  braced  against  the  sides  of  the  springless 
cart,  and  we  started  jolting  and  bumping 
down  the  rough  road  which  ran  parallel  with 
the  tracks.  The  peasant  sat  on  a  board  laid 
across  the  front  of  the  rick. 

We  had  gone  only  a  short  way  when  the 
booming  of  guns  came  from  both  sides  of  us. 
My  driver,  however,  seemed  unconscious  of 
it.  We  went  on  for  another  five  versts.  The 
guns  grew  louder  and  I  saw  shrapnel  shells 
burst  imcomf  ortably  near.  They  came  thicker 
and  faster. 

I  remembered  the  peace  of  Riga  some 
twenty-four  hours  before  this.  I  wanted  to 
tell  the  driver  to  turn  around  and  go  back, 
and  then  I  remembered  that  we  did  not  speak 
the  same  language,  and  certainly,  judging 
from  his  impassive  back,  we  were  not  think- 
ing the  same  thoughts.  There  was  an  instant 
when  I  stopped  thinking  altogether,  and  when 
I  knew  that  I  could  not  have  opened  my 
mouth  had  I  tried  to  speak.  A  shell  burst 
some  forty  feet  away  and  a  piece  of  shrapnel 
about  the  size  of  a  grape-fruit  landed  on  the 
floor  of  the  hay-rick  between  my  outspread 
legs,  broke  two  slats  on  the  floor  of  the 
wagon  and  dropped  harmlessly  to  the  ground. 
Then  at  last  the  driver  turned  around,  his  face 
white  as  chalk.  His  panic,  instead  of  com- 
municating itself  to  me,  had  the  very  opposite 
effect  and  I  suddenly  lost  all  sense  of  danger. 


18      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

With  a  boldness,  wMch  surprises  me  whenever 
I  think  of  it,  I  shouted  to  him : 

"For  Christ's  sake,  go  on!" 

The  driver  obeyed  reluctantly  but  soon 
turned  around  again. 

"GoonI"Icried. 

A  few  minutes  later  we  approached  a 
clump  of  trees  under  which  stood  a  Lettish 
gun,  surrounded  by  four  or  five  officers.  My 
driver  stopped  to  talk  to  them,  evidently  in- 
quiring whether  it  was  safe  to  go  on.  One 
of  the  officers  nodded,  the  others  laughed,  and 
one  said  in  good  English,  *' Everything  is  all 
right." 

At  four  o'clock  we  reached  the  headquar- 
ters at  the  front.  I  presented  my  pass  to 
the  commanding  officer,  a  stocky  young  fellow 
with  humorous  wrinkles  around  his  eyes. 

**You  are  an  American,"  he  said,  observ- 
ing me  keenly. 

**Prom  New  York,"  I  said.  "I  am  going 
to  Moscow  on  important  business  for  my 
paper."  I  told  him  more,  giving  most  im- 
pressive details.    I  convinced  him. 

**Well,"  he  said  finally,  "you  will  have  to 
wait  until  morning.  Both  of  us  are  using 
heavy  artillery  now." 

I  insisted.     I  wanted  to  go  at  once. 

"Well,  go  then,"  he  said  with  his  first  show 
of  impatience.  He  called  a  lieutenant,  gave 
him  brief  instructions  and  washed  his  hands 
of  me. 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      19 

Right  across  the  neutral  zone  you  could  see 
the  Bolshevist  trenches,  running  at  right 
angles  to  the  railroad  with  barbed  wire  on 
each  side  so  that  a  motor  train  couldn't  rush 
through.  **You  can't  go  into  the  front  line 
trenches,"  the  commanding  officer  told  me. 
^'Nobody  is  allowed  in  there  except  military 
men,  but  you  can  go  through  the  opening  in 
the  barbed  wire  and  start  across."  That  was 
the  best  I  could  do,  so  the  lieutenant  took 
me  around  those  barbed  wires  and  down  into 
a  ditch  at  the  edge  of  the  railroad  and  pointed 
to  me  to  climb  the  bank.  Well,  I  climbed  up 
somehow,  it  was  about  twenty-five  feet;  and 
started  down  that  track  with  my  big  suitcase 
and  a  heavy  overcoat  on,  holding  up  my  um- 
brella with  a  white  handkerchief  tied  to  it. 

It  was  a  very  hot  day  and  I  had  to  walk 
two  miles  across  the  neutral  zone — two  miles 
right  straight  down  the  tracks.  You  could 
see  the  Bolshevist  trenches  in  the  distance. 
Pretty  soon  the  firing  started.  I  couldn't  feel 
anything  dropping  near  me,  so  I  decided  those 
Lettish  soldiers  were  popping  their  heads  out 
of  the  trenches  to  see  this  fool  go  across  and 
the  Bolshevists  were  taking  pot  shots  at 
them. 

The  Lettish  officer  had  told  me:  **If  they 
start  to  fire  on  you,  roll  off  down  the  bank 
and  crawl  back  to  our  positions."  But  I 
would  have  had  to  roll  twenty-five  feet  and 
probably  crawl  a  mile.    So  I  kept  on.    A  scat- 


20      "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

tering  rifle  fire  spat  out  from  the  Red  trendies 
and  the  shells  screamed  steadily  overhead.  My 
suitcase  dragged  heavily  and  I  was  uncomfort- 
ably warm,  but  I  made  good  progress.  I  had 
covered  about  half  the  distance  when  a  rifle 
bullet  whipped  by  my  ear.  I  plunged  along 
the  track  with  redoubled  speed. 

As  I  came  within  fifty  yards  of  the  barbed 
wire  which  the  Russians  had  strung  across 
the  tracks,  Red  soldiers  shouted  up  at  me 
from  their  trenches  and  motioned  for  me  to 
come  down  into  the  adjoining  field  where 
there  was  a  gap  in  the  wire.  A  few  moments 
later  I  was  in  the  first-line  trench  of  the  Red 
army. 

I  was  hot  and  exhausted  and  still  resentful 
of  that  shot.  I  spoke  first:  ^'Why  did  you 
shoot  at  me?"  They  did  not  understand,  but 
one  of  them  evidently  knew  I  was  speaking 
English.  He  called  down  the  trench  to  an- 
other soldier  who  ran  up.  He  was  a  tall 
young  Slav,  and  showed  white  teeth  in  a 
broad  smile  as  he  greeted  me  in  good  English. 

** Hello,  America,"  he  said. 

*^Why  did  you  shoot  at  me?"  I  repeated  in- 
dignantly. 

*^0h,"  he  made  a  deprecatory  gesture. 

"One  of  the  comrades  made  a  mistake,"  he 
said,  *'He  shot  at  you  without  orders.  But 
you  also  made  a  mistake." 

*'What  was  that?"  I  asked. 

"You  carried  a  white  flag,"  he  said,  grin- 
ning.   "It  should  have  been  red." 


CHAPTER  II 
WITH  THE  RED  SOLDIERS 

I  ASKED  to  be  taken  to  the  commanding 
officer  and  two  soldiers  were  detailed  to 
escort  me.  One  of  the  *^ comrades"  laid  down 
his  rifle  and  picking  up  my  suitcase  led  the 
way  down  the  trenches;  the  other  shouldered 
his  rifle  and  followed  close  behind  me.  I 
kept  my  eye  on  the  suitcase  and  trudged 
along. 

They  were  both  very  friendly,  and  with  a 
great  show  of  their  English  began  talking  to 
me  at  once. 

*^Do  you  know,"  said  one  of  them,  *Hhat 
the  dock  workers  are  on  strike  in  New 
York?"  And  while  I  was  still  wondering  to 
myself  how"  Eussia,  shut  off  from  all  the  rest 
of  the  world,  could  have  heard  this  piece  of 
news,  the  other  ** comrade"  burst  out: 

**Who  is  going  to  win  the  pennant  in  the 
National  League  ? ' ' 

^' Where  do  you  learn  these  things?"  I 
asked. 

^'From  the  bulletins,"  he  replied  briefly. 
I  learned  later  that  the  wireless  at  Moscow 
works  twenty-four  hours  a  day,  and  that  it 

21 


22      ^'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

grabs  from  the  air  practically  all  the  news 
that  is  wirelessed  from  America  to  European 
countries.  Each  morning  in  Moscow  bulle- 
tins carrying  this  information  are  printed 
and  distributed  in  the  industries,  in  the 
peasant  villages  and  among  soldiers. 

For  three  versts  we  walked  along  the  rail- 
road track,  and  at  last  reached  the  head- 
quarters at  Levenhoff.  I  was  taken  to  the 
commanding  officer,  who  spoke  English  fairly 
well. 

*'What  do  you  want  here?"  he  asked  look- 
ing me  over  keenly. 

I  had  expected  that  question  and  had  my 
answer  ready.  I  knew  I  would  have  to  give 
an  explanation,  but  what  I  did  not  know  was 
that  I  would  have  to  give  that  explanation 
over  and  over  again  all  the  way  from  Leven- 
hoff to  Moscow. 

*^I  came  to  look  you  over,"  I  said.  '*In  the 
world  outside  there  are  many  conflicting 
stories  about  Soviet  Russia  and  I  want  to 
see  for  myself  what  is  going  on  here.  I  am 
not  a  spy.  I  should  like  to  be  allowed  to  go 
to  Petrograd  and  Moscow  and  to  travel 
through  the  country  and  then  return  to  Am- 
erica and  tell  what  I  have  seen." 

The  Red  officer  took  a  long  look  at  me  and 
turned  to  a  telephone.  I  knew  just  enough 
Russian  at  that  time  to  get  the  drift  of  his 
conversation.  He  called  up  the  Brigade  head- 
quarters and  reported  that  an  "Amerikan- 


O  - 


>H  O 

a:  -^ 

^  c 

^<  ° 

(^  CO 

'-'  3 
n 

a  ° 


*'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA''      23 

ski"  journalist  had  come  across  the  lines  and 
wanted  to  proceed  into  the  country.  There 
was  much  conversation  while  I  stood  waiting 
nervously.  Presently  he  hung  up  the  receiver 
and  turning  to  me  said,  *'You  will  have  to 
rei^ort  to  the  Brigade  Command  at  Praele." 

**And  is  there  a  train?"  I  asked  when  I 
learned  that  I  had  twenty-two  more  versts  to 
go  to  Praele.  There  was  not;  I  must  drive 
there  in  a  droshky.  It  would  be  ready  for 
me  in  a  few  minutes.  And  the  officer  gave 
some  orders.  Presently  the  droshky  arrived 
and  a  great  powerful  Red  Guard  with  a  rifle 
slung  over  his  shoulder  motioned  to  me  to 
get  in.  He  climbed  in  after  me  and  we  drove 
off. 

It  was  early  evening  by  now.  Vast 
stretches  of  country  swept  away  from  us  on 
either  side  of  the  road.  I  tried  to  talk  to 
my  burly  guard,  but  his  English  was  as 
meager  as  my  Russian.  Our  conversation 
resolved  itself  into  wild  gestures  and  signs. 
The  night  was  clear,  brightly  moonlit,  and 
about  nine  o'clock  it  grew  very  cold.  The 
chill  crept  into  every  crevice  of  my  clothing 
and  penetrated  to  my  very  bones,  and  I  lost 
all  interest  in  the  country  around  us. 

For  hours  we  seemed  to  drive  through  the 
chill  and  dampness.  I  was  fairly  frozen 
when  I  realized  that  the  guard  suddenly  took 
off  his  coat  and  silently  offered  it  to  me.  I 
refused  to  take  it,  of  course,  thanking  him — 


24      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  KUSSIA" 

**Spasiba,  TovarishchI"  I  said.  He  chuckled 
at  my  Russian  and  repeated  Tovarishch,  the 
Russian  word  for  comrade. 

We  reached  Praele  at  midnight.  My  guard 
took  a  receipt  for  me  from  the  commanding 
officer  as  though  I  were  a  bundle  of  clothes 
or  a  package  of  groceries,  and  returned  to 
Levenhoff.  .    .    . 

*'What  do  3^ou  want  here?" 

I  delivered  my  speech  of  explanation. 
The  next  question  was  welcome.  "Would 
you  like  something  to  eat  before  you  sleep?" 
I  was  very  hungry.  The  officer  called  a  sol- 
dier who  went  out  and  returned  with  some 
black  bread  and  tea,  with  apple  sauce.  When 
I  had  finished  eating,  my  guard  took  me  to 
a  large  barrack  room  where  about  thirty  sol- 
diers were  sleeping  in  their  uniforms  on 
wooden  bunks  built  in  around  the  walls. 
Several  of  them  woke  when  we  came  in  and 
looked  me  over  with  interest.  They  passed 
cigarettes  and  apples.  We  smoked  and 
munched  for  awhile  together,  and  presently 
every  one  settled  down  to  sleep. 

I  awoke  about  nine  the  next  morning.  The 
soldiers  were  all  up  and  gone.  A  guard  came 
in  and  led  me  to  a  building  across  the  street 
where  three  officers  and  two  privates  were 
breakfasting  together.  A  pleasant-faced 
Russian  woman  presided  over  the  stove.  A 
place  was  made  for  me  at  the  table  and  I 
was  served  with  a  very  unsavory  coffee-col- 


* 'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA' »      25 

ored  liquid,  one  egg,  sl  small  piece  of  butter, 
and  plenty  of  black  bread.  While  we  ate  a 
young  Russian  boy  about  thirteen  years  old 
played  the  violin, — the  Internationale,  the 
Marseillaise,  and  some  charming  folk-songs. 
We  returned  to  the  barracks  after  break- 
fast and  a  little  later  the  Commissar  at- 
tached to  brigade  headquarters  came  in  to 
see  me.  He  could  not  speak  English,  so  we 
carried  on  our  conversation  through  the  Com- 
mandant. First  of  all  he  asked  what  I  wanted 
in  Soviet  Russia.  I  went  through  my  patter 
and  they  left  me.  For  half  an  hour  I  sat 
wondering  what  would  happen  next.  Then 
the  Commandant  returned. 

^^We  believe  you  are  teUing  the  truth,''  he 
said.  ''We  are  glad  to  have  people  come  in 
from  the  outside  to  learn  what  we  are  doing 
and  what  we  hope  to  do  under  Soviet  rule. 
But  some  whom  we  have  allowed  to  come  in 
have  gone  out  and  told  outrageous  lies  about 
our  country  and  our  people;  others  have 
come  across  our  lines  and  have  gone  away  and 
revealed  our  military  positions  to  the  enemy. 
We  are  defending  ourselves  and  must  be 
careful.  You  must  pass  on  to  the  Division 
Command  at  Rejzistza,  thence  to  Army 
Headquarters,  and  finally  to  the  High  Com- 
mand for  investigation.  After  that  you  will 
be  allowed  to  remain  in  Soviet  Russia — or 
you  will  be  deported." 

That  evening  I  was  taken   under   guard 


26      ^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 

across  country  to  a  small  railway  station 
where  we  caught  a  train  which  brought  us 
to  Rejistza  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
A  bed  was  found  for  me  in  the  station  mas- 
ter's house.  At  eight  o'clock  my  guard 
woke  me  and  dragged  me  off  to  the  Commis- 
sar and  the  military  Commandant  at  Divi- 
sion Headquarters,  turned  me  over  to  them 
and  took  a  receipt  for  me  delivered  in  good 
order. 

After  breakfast  of  black  bread  and  tea 
came  the  question,  "What  do  you  want 
here?"  I  was  told  that  I  would  have  to  wait 
till  the  following  day  for  a  decision  on  my 
case.  Meanwhile  I  could  walk  about  and  see 
the  town.  The  Commandant  filled  out  a  slip 
of  paper  which  he  told  me  I  was  to  show  to 
any  one  who  offered  to  interfere  with  my 
stroll. 

I  found  Rejistza  a  fair-sized  town.  The 
people  were  going  about  their  business  in 
normal  fashion.  They  appeared  to  be  in  good 
health  and  they  were  all  well  clothed.  Many 
of  the  shops  were  closed  for  lack  of  wares; 
others  were  open,  though  none  seemed  to  have 
much  stock.  There  was,  however,  an  abun- 
dance of  fruit  in  the  stalls,  and  some  vegeta- 
bles. The  streets  were  dirty.  Carpenters 
were  at  work  on  some  of  the  houses,  many 
of  which  were  badly  out  of  repair. 

I  began  looking  for  some  one  who  could 
speak  English,  and  soon  discovered  a  young 


*'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      27 

Russian  boy  who  was  eager  to  talk  about  his 
town. 

**But  why  are  your  streets  so  dirty?"  I 
asked  him. 

'^Oh,  Rejistza  always  was  a  dirty  town, 
but  we  are  cleaning  it  up  now  as  fast  as 
possible,"  he  added  with  civic  pride  that  was 
obviously  newly  acquired. 

The  streets  were  full  of  sturdy,  well-clad 
soldiers  moving  through  to  the  Dvinsk  front 
where  the  Reds  were  bringing  up  reinforce- 
ments to  stop  the  Polish  offensive.  Bands 
were  playing  and  the  soldiers  marched  by  in 
good  order,  with  heads  erect,  singing  the 
Internationale, 

I  walked  down  towards  the  river  Dvina. 
The  sun  was  shining,  the  air  crisply  cold. 
A  crowd  of  children  came  bounding  out  of 
a  school-house  and  scampered  towards  a  large 
park  to  enjoy  their  recess  hour.  They  ran 
about  playing  games  much  as  children  in  this 
country  do.  One  group  quickly  marked  out 
a  space  on  the  sidewalk  with  chalk  and  began 
skipping  and  hopping  in  and  put  among  the 
chalked  squares.  Others  played  tag  and  still 
others  played  hiding  games.  They  were  all 
busy.  The  teachers  had  come  out  into  the 
park  with  the  children,  and  for  an  hour  chil- 
dren and  teachers  alike  played  and  talked  to- 
gether in  the  sunlight.  Here  or  there  sat  a 
teacher  on  a  park  bench  surrounded  by  a 


28      *'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

crowd  of  alert  children  who  hung  upon  every 
word  as  she  related  Eussian  fairy  tales. 

And  when  the  hour  was  over  every  one 
trooped  back  into  the  school-room  with  as 
much  ardor  as  when  they  came  out  into  the 
park.  I  wandered  over  to  the  river,  but  soon 
returned  to  the  school-house.  I  wanted  to 
find  out  what  a  Russian  school-room  was  like. 

I  slipped  in  through  the  door  and  took  a 
seat  near  by.  No  one  took  notice  of  me.  The 
teacher  continued  her  talking  and  the  chil- 
dren listened  with  as  much  interest  as  they 
had  outside  when  she  was  telling  them  of  the 
wonderful  deeds  of  the  heroes  of  folk-lore. 
For  an  hour  I  sat  and  listened  and  then 
walked  away  still  unnoticed.  I  returned 
through  the  tovm  to  the  Commissar's  house 
quite  unmolested. 

That  day  I  dined  with  the  Commissar  and 
four  or  five  of  his  staff.  I  had  looked  for- 
ward to  the  meal  all  day,  and  was  grateful 
when  at  last  we  sat  down  to  table.  Cabbage 
soup  and  a  small  piece  of  fish  were  served  to 
each  of  us.  The  others  talked  a  great  deal; 
I  waited  for  more  food,  but  none  came,  and 
I  went  to  bed  that  night  with  a  great  gnawing 
inside  of  me. 

I  was  awakened  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  by  a  new  guard  who  led  me  off  to  a 
train.  The  decision  had  been  made,  as  the 
Commandant  had  promised  it  would  be.  The 
train  was  bound  for  Velikie  Luki.    The  new 


"BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      29 

guard  and  I  had  breakfast  on  board— black 
bread  and  two  apples. 

It  was  four  in  the  afternoon  when  we 
reached  our  destination.  A  droshky  carried 
us  five  versts  to  the  headquarters  of  the  15th 
Army,  where  I  was  again  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  a  Commissar. 

Wearily  I  repeated  my  lines,  thinking 
much  more  about  the  possibility  of  getting  a 
meal  from  this  Commissar  than  I  did  about 
getting  a  pass  into  Moscow.  I  must  have 
looked  as  hungry  and  tired  as  I  felt,  for  the 
Commissar  instead  of  granting  the  pass  took 
me  to  his  home,  which  was  only  a  short  way 
down  the  street. 

His  house  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  most 
comfortable  place  I  had  ever  seen.  I  was  in- 
troduced to  his  wife,  who  came  to  meet  us  at 
the  door.  Two  children  soon  appeared  and 
then  the  Commissar's  mother,  and  at  once  we 
began  talking  like  old  friends.  I  was  taken 
to  a  cheerful  room  where  I  dusted  and  washed 
myself,  and  when  I  returned  to  the  others 
the  evening  meal  was  set  forth  on  the  table. 
It  seemed  almost  bountiful  to  me  after  the 
meager  portions  of  cabbage  soup  and  black 
bread  I  had  been  eating  for  the  past  few 
days.  Actually  it  was  only  cabbage  soup 
again,  one  fish  ball  for  each,  some  kasha,  black 
bread  and  tea.  I  ate  ravenously,  and  I  am 
afraid  I  gave  my  host  and  hostess  the  im- 
pression that  I  was  a  glutton. 


30      **BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

I  went  to  bed  early  that  night  feeling  well 
fed  for  the  first  time  in  days.  In  the  morning 
I  set  forth  early  for  headquarters  with  the 
Commissar  and  there  was  turned  over  to  a 
guard,  who  took  me  out  to  show  me  Velikie 
Luki. 

The  to^vn  was  crowded  with  soldiers  stroll- 
ing idly  along  the  streets,  soldiers  marching 
briskly  to  the  railroad  station,  soldiers  falling 
in  and  out  of  barracks,  soldiers  everywhere, — 
and  singing,  always  singing,  with  bands  and 
without,  ceaselessly  singing  their  beloved  In- 
ternationale. The  troops  were  moving  out  to 
the  Dvinsk  and  Denikin  fronts.  The  thor- 
oughfares were  crowded  with  civilians  watch- 
ing the  regiments  pass  by — men,  women,  and 
children,  shouting,  waving  caps  and  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  joining  in  the  chorus  of  the 
soldiers'  song. 

I  followed  the  marching  lines  to  the  rail- 
way station.  Trains  were  pulling  out  and 
empty  cars  moving  in  as  fast  as  they  could 
be  loaded.  And  how  they  were  loaded !  Pas- 
senger cars,  box  cars,  flat  cars,  jammed  with 
shouting,  laughing  soldiers,  waving  good-bye, 
joking  and  singing.  Every  inch  of  space 
carried  a  soldier.  Platforms,  steps,  roofs, 
and  even  the  engines  were  covered  with 
scrambling,  good-natured  Reds.  A  train 
already  filled  drew  in  and  emptied  a  load  of 
men  back  from  the  front  for  a  rest.  The 
wounded  were  carried  off  carefully.    From 


TROTZKY 
Commissar   of   War    and    Marine 


^'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"       31 

the  end  of  the  train  a  detachment  of  about 
two  hundred  disarmed  soldiers  marched  up 
the  platform  under  guard.  These  were  the 
first  prisoners  I  had  encountered,  and  I  was 
anxious  to  see  what  would  be  done  with  them. 
They  marched  away  from  the  station  and  I 
asked  my  guard  if  we  might  follow  them.  He 
made  no  objection.  The  townspeople  paid  no 
attention  to  the  prisoners.  Evidently  they 
were  an  accustomed  sight. 

They  went  about  a  mile  down  a  long  side 
street,  parallel  to  the  railroad,  and  then 
turned  abruptly  across  lots  and  entered  a 
large  barrack.  A  sentry  was  posted  outside, 
but  after  a  little  explanation  my  guard  ob- 
tained permission  for  us  to  go  in.  The  pris- 
oners were  seated  on  the  floor,  with  their 
backs  to  the  wall.  Two  soldiers  brought  in 
steaming  samovars  through  a  side  door  and 
others  carried  in  great  loaves  of  bread.  Tea 
was  made  and  handed  around  to  the  prison- 
ers and  the  bread  was  cut  in  large  chunks 
and  given  to  them.  The  captives  ate  hun- 
grily, their  guards  chatting  and  laughing 
with  them.  While  they  were  still  eating,  two 
more  Red  soldiers  entered,  with  bundles  of 
printed  pamphlets,  which  they  distributed 
among  the  prisoners,  who  ate,  drank,  and 
read. 

If  there  was  a  German  soldier  there,  he 
received  German  literature;  if  a  Lithuanian, 
he  received  Lithuanian  literature;  if  he  hap- 


32      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

pened  to  be  French — well,  they  had  it  in  all 
languages.  All  the  while  they  were  holding 
the  prisoners  they  fed  them  three  times  a 
day,  sometimes  bread  and  tea  and  sometimes 
cabbage  soup,  and  they  kept  them  reading  all 
the  time;  when  they  were  not  reading  some 
of  the  Commissars  were  in  there  talking  with 
them,  telling  them  about  the  world,  and  what 
the  war  was  about  and  why  they  were  sent 
there.  They  had  the  organization  of  it  per- 
fected to  such  an  extent  that  prisoners  were 
not  there  five  minutes  before  they  were  eat- 
ing, and  they  were  not  eating  five  minutes 
before  they  were  reading. 

Bolshevist  warfare  does  not  end  with  the 
taking  of  prisoners.  The  propaganda  fol- 
lows. The  Soviet  leaders  think  more  of  it 
than  they  do  of  bullets.  They  say  it  is  more 
effective.  Three  times  on  the  western  front 
I  witnessed  this  same  scene  where  prisoners 
were  brought  in. 

In  Russia  they  like  very  much  to  take 
prisoners.  The  only  objection  is  that  they 
haven't  got  much  food  and  they  don't  like 
to  starve  them.  They  told  me  that  they  would 
like  to  take  a  million  prisoners  a  day,  if  they 
had  plenty  of  food  and  paper.  After  all, 
the  biggest  war  they  were  carrying  on  in 
Russia  was  a  war  of  education.  All  along 
the  battle-front  you  could  see  streamers  tell- 
ing the  other  side  what  the  thing  was  about — 
you  could  read  them  a  himdred  yards  away. 


^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"      33 

At  night  they  put  two  posts  in  the  ground 
and  fastened  the  streamer  between  them.  In 
the  morning,  when  the  sun  rose,  there  it  was. 

During  the  two  days  I  spent  in  Velikie 
Luki,  and  later  at  many  other  places  along 
the  front,  I  sought  every  opportunity  to 
study  the  Red  army.  I  am  not  an  expert 
and  cannot  report  upon  the  technical  details 
of  military  equipment.  There  seemed  no  lack 
of  small  arms  or  cannon.  In  general  the  sol- 
diers were  warmly  clad  and  strongly  shod. 
Certainly  they  were  in  good  spirits.  The  re- 
lations between  officers  and  men  were  inter- 
esting. There  was  no  lack  of  discipline.  OR 
duty  all  ranks  mingled  as  comrades,  men 
and  officers  joking,  laughing,  singing,  or 
talking  seriously  together.  Under  orders  the 
men  obeyed  promptly.  I  found  it  the  same 
at  the  front,  in  the  barracks,  and  at  head- 
quarters with  the  Commissars  and  highest  of- 
ficers. When  there  was  no  serious  work 
to  be  done  they  associated  without  distinc- 
tion. 

Wherever  I  met  the  Red  .soldiers  I  was 
struck  with  this  combination  of  comradeship 
and  discipline.  On  more  than  one  occasion 
I  have  gone  into  a  commandant's  office  along 
the  front,  at  some  high  command,  and  found 
him  playing  cards  or  checkers  with  his  men. 
Privates  and  under-officers  would  crowd  in 
unceremoniously  and  engage  in  voluble  chat- 
ter without  the  slightest  indication  of  supe- 


34      ^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

riority  or  deference  to  rank.  Then,  sudden- 
Ijy  perhaps  a  ring  on  the  telephone,  and  the 
commander  would  receive  a  report  of  some 
development  along  the  front.  A  brisk  order 
would  bring  the  room  to  attentive  silence; 
cards  and  checkerboards  and  fiddles  would 
be  shoved  aside.  The  men  would  file  out  to 
their  posts.  They  seemed  to  have  an  instant 
appreciation  of  the  distinction  between  com- 
radeship in  the  barracks  and  discipline  on 
duty. 

THE  EED  ARMY 

The  ordinary  Red  soldier  gets  400  rubles 
a  month,  with  rations  and  clothes.  Soviet 
officials  told  me  that  there  were  2,000,000 
thoroughly  trained  and  equipped  men  in  the 
fighting  forces,  with  another  million  in  re- 
serve and  mider  training.  About  50,000 
young  officers,  they  said,  chosen  from  the 
most  capable  peasants  and  workers,  had 
already  graduated  from  the  officers'  training 
schools  under  the  Soviet  Government.  Thou- 
sands of  others  had  been  developed  from  the 
ranks. 

It  is  easy  for  the  casual  observer  to  mis- 
judge that  subtle  and  all-important  element 
known  as  *' morale.''  I  think  that  I  am  per- 
haps more  than  ordinarily  skeptical  of  mani- 
festations of  patriotic  fervor,  knowing  some- 
thing of  the  means  by  which  every  general 
staff   keeps   up   the   fighting   spirit    of   the 


^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      35 

ranks.  But  I  retain  from  my  contact  with 
the  Red  soldiers  a  sense  of  peculiar  zeal  and 
dogged  grit.  Certainly  they  do  not  want  to 
fight.  They  want  to  go  home  and  settle 
down  in  peace.  But  this  frankly  confessed 
distaste  for  slaughter  seems  only  to  empha- 
size their  determination  to  see  the  struggle 
through  to  the  end.  For  all  their  war  weari» 
ness  they  did  not  act  like  men  driven  un» 
willingly  into  battle.  I  tried  to  imagine  my- 
self enduring  what  many  of  them  have  en- 
dured for  over  five  years,  betrayed  by  their 
first  leaders,  overwhelmingly  defeated  by 
their  first  enemy,  and  still  struggling  on 
against  new  assaults  from  those  they  had  been 
taught  to  believe  were  their  friends  and 
allies. 

I  tried  to  imagine  what  vast  process  of 
propaganda  could  have  stimulated  this  un- 
yielding endurance.     Propaganda  there  un- 
doubtedly was.    Just  as  the  Allied  armies  had 
their    attendant    organizations    of    welfare 
workers   and    entertainers   to    keep    up    the 
morale,  so  the  Red  Army  was  accompanied  by 
a  carefully  organized  system  of  revolution- 
ary propaganda.     I  suppose  the  American 
soldier  would  not  have  fought  so  well  had 
he  not  been  constantly  reminded  that  he  was 
fighting   to   make   the   world   safe    for    De- 
mocracy.   The  Red  soldier  is  persuaded  that 
he  fights  to  keep  Russia  safe  for  the  Revo- 
lution.    This  ideal  is  deeply  personal.     He 


36      *'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

feels  it  is  his  revolution;  lie  feels  that  he 
accomplished  it  regardless  of  his  leaders, 
certainly  in  spite  of  some  of  them;  and  now 
it  is  his  to  defend  against  attacks  from  with- 
out and  within.  In  judging  this  thing  I  find 
myself  turning  away  from  generalizations 
and  disregarding  what  I  was  told  by  those 
enthusiasts  who  have  the  Red  Army  in  their 
keeping.  I  come  back  again  and  again  to 
the  men  themselves.  Before  I  left  Russia  I 
had  seen  a  great  many  soldiers.  I  had  lived 
with  them,  traveled  with  them,  slept  in  their 
barracks,  eaten  in  their  mess.  To  the  Amer- 
ican of  course,  the  conditions  under  which 
the  European  masses  manage  to  maintain 
existence,  even  in  normal  times,  is  always  a 
matter  of  surprise  and  wonder.  The  Soviet 
Government  does  everything  possible  for  the 
Red  Army.  It  is  their  constant  thought  and 
care.  But  the  utmost  that  can  be  provided, 
even  of  bare  subsistence,  seems  painfully 
inadequate  to  the  westerner. 

The  preferential  treatment  of  the  soldiers, 
of  which  I  had  heard  so  much  before  I  saw 
it  and  shared  it,  consists  principally  in  main- 
taining an  uninterrupted  supply  of  black 
bread  and  tea.  It  may  be  propaganda,  it 
may  be  a  peculiar  quality  in  the  spiritual 
and  physical  composition  of  the  Russian 
peasant.  Whatever  it  is,  I  do  not  believe 
that  any  other  European  army  would  endure 
so  long  on  a  ration  of  black  bread  and  tea. 


*'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      37 

An  occasional  apple  or  cigarette  were  luxur- 
ies, aU  too  quickly  consumed  and  forgotten. 
The  black  bread  and  tea,  constant  and  un- 
varied, will  ever  remain  for  me  the  symbol 
both  of  the  efficiency  of  the  Soviet  Commis- 
sary and  of  the  zeal  of  the  Red  soldier.  Black 
bread  and  tea  and  song.  Their  love  for  song 
is  amazing, — aU  songs,  but  principally  the 
Internationale.  They  march  off  to  the  front 
singing,  they  limp  back  from  battle  singing, 
they  sing  on  the  trains,  and  in  the  barracks, 
and  at  mess;  they  sing  wliile  they  are  play- 
ing checkers  and  they  sing  while  they  are 
sweeping  stables.  They  wake  up  at  night 
and  sing.    I  have  heard  them  do  it. 

I  was  told  that  about  seventy-five  percent  of 
the  Czar's  officers  were  in  the  Soviet  Army. 
This  was  no  sign  that  they  were  converted  to 
communism.  Their  spirit  remained  essen- 
tially patriotic.  They  supported  the  Soviet 
Government,  not  because  it  was  a  Socialist 
government,  but  because  it  was  the  govern- 
ment.    They  fought  to  defend  Russia. 

It  was  Trotzky  who  insisted  on  allowing 
these  old  officers  to  come  into  the  army. 
Many  of  the  Communists  thought  they  would 
betray  the  soldiers  on  the  front  and  turn  them 
over  to  the  enemy.  But  Trotzky  said  it  was 
a  question  of  permitting  the  experienced  offi- 
cers to  train  the  men  and  teach  them  military 
tactics  or  the  Red  Army  would  be  destroyed. 
Trotzky  had  his  way.    At  every  army  post, 


38      "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

whether  it  was  a  company,  a  brigade,  a  regi- 
ment or  a  division,  wherever  tliere  was  an 
old  army  officer  there  was  a  trusted  Commis- 
sar who  worked  in  the  office,  and  every  move 
the  old  army  officer  made  was  known  to  the 
Commissar. 

The  following  manifesto,  drawn  up  and 
signed  by  137  officers  of  the  old  regime,  ap- 
pealing to  their  former  messmates  to  quit  the 
counter-revolution  and  stop  making  war  upon 
the  Soviet  Government,  which  the  people  had 
established  and  would  defend  against  all  at- 
tacks, was  sent  through  the  Denikin  lines: 

' '  Officers — Comrades : 

"We  address  this  letter  to  you  with  the  intention 
of  avoiding  useless  and  aimless  shedding  of  blood.  We 
know  quite  well  that  the  army  of  General  Denikin  will 
be  crushed,  as  was  that  of  Kolehak  and  of  many 
others  who  have  tried  to  put  at  their  mercy  a  working 
people  of  many  millions  of  men.  We  know  equally 
well  that  truth  and  justice  are  on  the  side  of  the  Red 
Army,  and  that  you  only  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the 
White  Army  through  ignorance  regarding  the  Soviet 
Republic  and  the  Red  Army,  or  because  you  fear  for 
your  fate  in  case  of  the  latter 's  victory.  We  think 
it  our  duty  above  all  to  write  you  the  truth  about  the 
position  made  for  us  ia  the  Red  Army.  First  we  guar- 
antee to  you  that  no  officers  of  the  White  Army  pass- 
ing over  into  our  camp  are  shot.  That  is  the  order 
of  the  Supreme  Revolutionary  Council  of  War. 

**If  you  come  with  the  simple  desire  to  lessen  the 
sufferings  of  the  working  population,  to  lessen  the 
shedding  of  blood,  nobody  will  touch  you.  As  to 
officers  who  express  the  desire  to  serve  loyally  in  the 


LENIN   AND    MRS.    LENIN,    MOSCOW,    1919 


<*BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'*      39 

Red  Army  they  are  received  with  respect  and  extreme 
courtesy.  We  have  not  to  submit  to  any  kind  of  out- 
rage or  humiliation.  Everywhere  our  needs  are  atten- 
tively supplied.  Full  respect  for  the  work  of  spe- 
cialists of  every  kind  is  the  fundamental  motive  of  the 
policy  of  the  present  government  and  of  its  authorized 
representatives  in  the  Red  Army.  Quite  unlike  the 
practice  in  the  old  army,  you  are  not  asked,  'Who  are 
your  parents?'  but  only  one  thing— 'Are  you  loyal?' 
A  loyal  ofificer  who  is  educated  and  who  works  ad- 
vances rapidly  on  the  ladder  of  military  administra- 
tion, is  received  everywhere  with  respect,  attention, 
and  kindness.  Among  the  troops  an  exemplary  dis- 
cipline has  been  introduced. 

"From  the  material  point  of  view  we  could  not  be 
better  treated.  As  for  the  Commissars,  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases  we  work  hand  in  hand  with  them, 
and  in  case  of  disagreement  the  most  highly  authorized 
representatives  of  the  power  of  the  Soviets  take  rapidly 
decisive  measures  for  getting  rid  of  the  dift'erences. 
In  a  word,  the  longer  we  serve  in  the  Red  Army,  the 
more  we  are  convinced  that  service  is  not  a  burden  to 
us.  Many  of  us  began  to  serve  with  a  little  sinking  of 
the  heart,  solely  to  earn  a  living,  but  the  longer  our 
service  has  lasted  the  more  we  are  convinced  of  the 
possibility  of  loyal  and  conscientious  service  in  this 
.  army.  That  is  why,  officer  comrades,  we  allow  our- 
selves to  call  you  such  although  we  know  that  the  word 
'comrade'  is  considered  insulting  among  you,  because 
among  us  it  indicates  relations  of  simple  cordiality 
and  mutual  respect.  Without  proposing  that  you 
should  make  any  decision,  we  beg  you  to  examine  the 
question,  and  in  your  future  conduct  to  take  account 
of  our  evidence.  We  wish  to  say  one  thing  more, — we 
congratulate  ourselves  that  in  fulfilling  obligations 
loyally  we  are  not  the  servants  of  any  foreign  govern- 
ment.   We  are  glad  to  serve  neither  German  imperial- 


40      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

ism,  nor  the  imperialism,  whieli  is  Anglo-Franco-Amer- 
ican.  We  do  what  our  conscience  dictates  to  us  in 
the  interest  of  millions  and  millions  of  workers,  to 
which  number  the  vast  majority  of  the  company  of  the 
officers  belong." 


CHAPTER  III 
ON  TO  MOSCOW 

BEFORE  leaving  Velikie  Luki  I  wan- 
dered with  my  guard  down  a  street  of 
the  town  and  came  upon  a  Soviet  bookstore. 
Inside  were  thousands  of  books  and  pam- 
phlets, in  what  seemed  to  me  all  the  languages 
of  the  world.  The  store  was  full  of  men  and 
women  buying  these  books  and  pamphlets.  I 
learned  that  this  store  and  many  others  like 
it  had  been  opened  almost  two  years  before, 
and  that  knowledge  of  history  and  social 
conditions  throughout  the  world  was  thus  be- 
ing brought  to  millions  of  Russians  f  oiinerly 
held  in  darkness. 

Later  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the 
Conunissar  informed  me  that  I  was  free  to 
go  on  to  Smolensk  and  that  if  I  passed  mus- 
ter there  I  could  go  anywhere  I  desired  in 
Russia.  I  was  given  another  guard,  a  big 
fellow  who  had  spent  ten  years  in  England 
and  returned  to  Russia  when  the  Czar  was 
overthrown.  He  so  much  resembled  the 
Irish  labor  leader,  Jim  Larkin,  that  I  called 
him  *' Larkin"  throughout  the  course  of  our 
journey  together. 

He  had  an  exclamation  which  he  used  fre- 
quently when  I  was  too  pertinacious  to  suit 
him. 

41 


42      '^BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA*^ 

*'God  love  a  duck,  what  do  you  want  now?'* 
he  would  roar  with  a  despairing  gesture,  and 
the  tone  of  his  voice  also  was  despairing.  It 
may  be  that  he  was  justified  in  his  complaint, 
for  there  was  much  that  I  wanted  to  kn'ow 
and  to  see. 

On  the  last  day  of  our  journey  towards 
Moscow  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  *'I  haven't 
prayed  for  ten  years  or  more, — not  since  I 
was  down  and  out  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  and 
wandered  into  a  Salvation  Army  headquar- 
ters. Then  I  did  go  down  on  my  knees  and 
pray  for  help,  but  I  decided  since  that  pray- 
ing wasn't  my  job.  But  God  love  a  duck, 
when  I  get  you  safely  into  Moscow  I'm  going 
down  on  my  knees  again  and  thank  God  that 
this  job  is  over  and  ask  Hun  to  save  me  from 
any  more  Americans  of  jout  kind." 

But  there  was,  after  all,  some  excuse  for 
my  troubling  him  so  often  and  so  much. 
"Larkin"  slept  on  every  possible — and  im- 
possible— occasion,  and  the  sound  of  his 
snores,  with  which  I  can  think  of  nothing 
worthy  of  comparison,  kept  me  awake,  so 
that  in  self-defence  I  used  to  rouse  him  every 
time  we  reached  a  station  to  ask  questions 
about  where  we  were  and  why  we  had  stopped 
there  and  what  the  people  were  doing  and 
why  they  were  doing  it.  When  I  had  him 
sufficiently  awake  to  begin  to  smoke  I  could 
snatch  a  bit  of  sleep  for  myself,  for  he  inva- 
riably sat  up  until  he  had  smoked  eight  or 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      43 

ten  cigarettes,  after  which  his  snoring  began 
again  and  my  rest  ended. 

**Larkin's"  real  name  was  August  Graf- 
man,    which    sounded    Teutonic.      He    was 
a  Eussian  Uew,  however,  and  a  good  fellow. 
I  hope  to  see  him  again  sometime,  and  I  com- 
mend him  to  any  other  Americans  who  want 
to  see  for  themselves  what  is  going  on  in  Rus- 
sia at  the  present  time.    He  spoke  English 
readily  and  perfectly,  and  from  him  I  ob- 
tained much  information  I  might  otherwise 
have    missed.      There    was   the    time    when 
we   waited   for   a  train  at   a   small  station 
in  the  course  of  our  journey  towards  Smo- 
lensk.    All  at  once   a   commotion  arose  on 
the    other    side    of    the    station.      Hurrying 
around,  we  saw  a  man  running,  pursued  by 
three  or  four  Red  soldiers.    Two  officers  com- 
ing toward  the  station  drew  their  sabres  and 
held  them  before  the  man,  who  stopped  and 
his  pursuers  captured  him.     They  brought 
him  back  to  the  station  and  I  observed  ttat 
he  was  a  Jew.    I  wondered  if  his  crime  was 
that  of  his  race,  remembering  stories  of  po- 
groms.   The  Jew  was  brought  into  the  sta- 
tion and  seated  on  a  bench.     Immediately 
the  soldiers  surrounded  him,  and  one  of  them 
stood  up  in  front  of  hun  and  made  a  long 
speech.     At  its  conclusion  he  sat  down,  and 
another  rose  and  made  an  address.    Finally 
a  third  vociferously  questioned  the  man.    At 
last  the  Jew  arose,  the  soldiers  made  way  for 


U     '^'BARBAKOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA'' 

him,  and  he  left  the  station.  *'Larkin"  who 
had  been  too  much  interested  in  the  proceed- 
ings to  talk  to  me,  now  satisfied  my  curiosity. 

The  Jew  had  been  caught  in  the  act  of 
picking  the  pockets  of  a  soldier.  Further- 
more it  was  his  third  offence.  The  first  man 
who  spoke  had  tried  to  impress  the  Jew  with 
the  enormity  of  the  crime  of  robbing  a  man 
who  was  on  his  way  to  defend  his  country. 
He  had  said,  "Don't  you  realize  that  a  man 
going  out  to  fight  carries  nothing  with  him 
except  what  he  actually  needs,  whether  it  be 
money  or  an5i:hing  else,  and  that  it  is  worse 
to  rob  a  soldier  on  this  account  than  an  ordi- 
nary civilian,  with  a  home,  and  all  his  treas- 
ures about  him?"  The  second  man  had 
talked  of  the  defence  of  the  country;  the 
soldiers  were  going  to  fight  so  that  when  the 
fighting  ended  there  would  be  enough  for 
every  one  and  no  need  for  stealing.  The  third 
had  tried  to  obtain  a  promise  that  the  man 
would  not  again  steal  from  soldiers.  He  had 
be^n  successful,  and,  "now  the  Jew  is  free," 
said  Larkin. 

"But  it  was  his  third  offense,"  I  said.  "I 
should  think  they  would  punish  him  se- 
verely." 

"Larkin"  gav^e  me  a  pitying  glance.  "You 
don't  understand  the  Russians,"  he  said 
simply.  "They  are  kind  and  in  their  own 
new  born  freedom  they  want  every  one  to  be 
free." 


^^BAKBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      45 

At  last  our  train  arrived  and  we  got  on. 
To  Smolensk  and  then  to  Moscow,  I  thought. 
But  it  was  not  so  simple  as  that.    Our  train 
was  going  to  Moghilev  direct,  so  we  had  to 
get  off  again  at  Polotsk  at  nine  in  the  eve- 
ning, where  we  found  that  we  were  half  an 
hour  too  late  to  catch  the  train  for  Smolensk. 
*'Larkin"  hunted  around  for  a  sleeping  place 
for  us  when  we  learned  that  we  would  have 
to  stay  overnight  in  the  town,  and  finally  won 
the  favor  of  the  Commissar,   who  took  us 
to  what  he  called  the  *' Trainmen's  Hotel," 
a  large  building  near  the  station.     In  the 
room  into  which  we  were  ushered  there  were 
about  twenty  beds,  the  linen  on  which  was 
far  from  clean.    Two  of  the  beds  in  one  cor- 
ner of  the  room  were  assigned  to  us  and  we 
lay  down  fully  dressed.    After  what  seemed 
a  few  minutes  I  was  awakened  by  a  vigorous 
kick,   and  found   a  huge   Russian  standing 
over  me,  brandishing  his  arms  and  speaking 
harshly  and  menacingly  at  me.     I  hurriedly 
shook  ''Larkin"  out  of  his  profound  slumber, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  brief  but  spirited  discus- 
sion between  the  two  in  Russian,  he  informed 
me  that  the  man  had  been  working  all  night 
in  the  railroad  shop  and  had  come  in  to  sleep. 
He  resented  finding  his  bed  occupied.    I  sus- 
pected "Larkin"  of  enjoying  the  joke  on  me, 
as  I  clambered  out  and  shivered  in  the  cold, 
but  his   enjoyment   was   brief,    for   he   was 
almost  immediately  ordered  out  by  another 
man  who  entered  and  claimed  his  bed. 


46       ^'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

The  two  of  us  wandered  out  forlornly  into 
the  cold  foggy  morning  and  went  back  to  the 
station.  The  Commissar  there  made  us  com- 
fortable in  his  office  until  daylight,  when  we 
went  down  the  track  to  a  water  tank  and  had 
a  *'hobo  wash"  after  which  we  ate  our  break- 
fast— one  egg  each,  black  bread  and  tea,  in 
the  Soviet  restaurant  in  the  station. 

We  had  been  told  that  we  could  not  get 
a  train  to  Smolensk  before  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  but  at  eleven  the  Commissar 
told  us  that  a  trainload  of  soldiers  going  to 
the  Denikin  front  would  be  passing  through 
at  two  in  the  afternoon  and  that  it  might  be 
possible  to  arrange  for  our  transportation  on 
this  train,  if  we  wished  it.  We  did  wish 
it  and  at  two  o'clock  we  were  in  a  box 
car  full  of  soldiers  en  route  to  Smolensk, 
which  we  would  reach  at  ten  that  night. 

The  soldiers  sang  all  evening — Russian  sol- 
ders always  sing,  no  matter  how  crowded,  how 
hungry,  or  how  weary — but  one  by  one  they 
dropped  off  to  sleep,  huddled  up  in  all  sorts 
of  positions.  The  train  jolted  along,  slowly, 
it  seemed  to  me,  and  it  was  too  dark  to  see 
anything  through  the  window.  My  guard 
went  to  sleep,  and  I  remember  thinking  we 
must  be  near  Smolensk  and  that  I  would  have 
to  stay  awake  since  he  seemed  to  find  his  re- 
sponsibilities resting  lightly.  The  stopping 
of  the  train  roused  me,  and  thinking  that  we 
had  arrived  at  Smolensk  I  shook  ''Larkin 


>» 


LENIN    IN    THE    COURTYARD    OP    THE   KREMLIN,    MOSCOW, 
SUMMER  OF  1919 


''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA»'      47 

who  looked  at  his  watch  and  exclaimed, 
*'Why  it's  midnight.  We  must  have  passed 
Smolensk. ' ' 

Surely  enough,  we  had  gone  through 
Smolensk  and  were  seventy  five  versts  on  the 
other  side  of  it,  bound  for  the  Denikin  front. 
I  had  no  objections  to  going  there  eventually 
but  I  preferred  to  have  permission  first,  so 
we  hastily  bundled  out  of  the  train  and  went 
into  the  station.  "Larkin"  approached  the 
door  of  the  Commissar's  office  and  tried  to 
brush  past  the  Red  Guard  who  sat  there,  and 
who  objected  to  such  an  unceremonious  en- 
trance. After  "an  interminable  discussion — 
perhaps  five  minutes, — I  said,  ''He  wants  to 
see  your  credentials.  Why  don't  you  show 
them  to  him?  Do  you  want  us  both  to  be 
arrested?" 

But  the  Red  guard  had  lost  patience  by 
this  time.  A  snap  of  his  fingers  brought  a 
policeman  who  arrested  "Larkin"  and  before 
I  had  finished  the  *'I  told  you  so,"  I  could 
not  restrain,  I  found  the  heavy  hand  of  the 
law  on  my  own  shoulder.  The  two  of  us  were 
marched  down  the  street  and  locked  in  a  lit- 
tle dark  room  in  what  was  apparently  the 
town  jail. 

In  the  two  hours  of  solitude  that  followed 
I  shared  all  my  dismal  forebodings  with  that 
unfortunate  guard.  We  would  be  taken  for 
spies  and  as  spies  we  would  certainly  be  shot. 
I  couldn't  be  sorry  that  this  penalty  would 


48      **BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'^ 

be  inflicted  upon  anyone  so  stupid  and  obsti- 
nate and  generally  asinine  as  he,  but  I  at 
least  wanted  to  get  back  to  America  and  tell 
people  how  stupid  a  big  Russian  could  be. 
There  were  probably  some  adjectives  also, 
I  am  not  sure  that  he  listened.  In  any  event 
I  could  not  see  the  signs  of  contrition  that 
might  at  least  have  lightened  my  apprehen- 
sions. 

At  the  end  of  two  hours  two  Red  soldiers 
opened  the  door  of  our  cell  and  escorted  us 
to  the  police  station  where  we  were  taken  at 
once  before  the  judge,  a  simple,  but  very 
determined  looking  peasant,  who  examined 
first  the  Red  Guard  who  had  caused  our  ar- 
rest, the  policeman  who  had  arrested  us,  and 
two  soldiers  who  had  witnessed  the  affair. 

^'Larkin"  in  the  meantime  very  reluctantly 
interpreted  whatever  comments  and  explana- 
tions I  had  to  make.  He  became  more  and 
more  stubborn  and  taciturn.  The  Red  Guard 
told  his  story,  which  was  verified  by  the  po- 
liceman. The  two  soldiers  further  attested  to 
the  truth  of  the  tale  and  stated  that  we  had 
been  entirely  at  fault.  Then  the  judge  asked 
my  guard  for  an  explanation,  and  with  the 
air  of  one  playing  a  forgotten  ace  which 
would  take  trick  and  game,  *'Larkin"  pro- 
duced our  credentials  and  laid  them  trium- 
phantly on  the  judge's  desk. 

When  he  had  read  them  the  judge  rose 


''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      49 

and  made  a  statement  which  I  demanded  my 
guard  should  translate. 

"Oh  he  is  just  saying,"  said  "Larkin," 
"to  please  tell  the  American  that  we  are 
sorry  this  thing  happened.  We  are  only 
working  people  and  we  must  be  careful  to 
guard  our  country.  The  Red  Guard  at  the 
door  was  simply  obeying  orders  and  doing 
his  duty,  and  we  want  the  American  to  un- 
derstand that  no  deliberate  offence  was  in- 
tended. There  are  so  many  people  making 
war  on  us,  both  inside  and  outside,  and  we 
have  to  be  careful." 

When  "Larkin"  had  translated  my  reply, 
which  w^as  to  the  effect  that  we  acknowledged 
our  fault,  and  had  only  congratulations  for 
the  men  who  understood  their  duty  and  had 
the  courage  to  perform  it,  and  that  I  regret- 
ted having  been  the  cause  of  so  much  trou- 
ble, the  judge  himself  led  us  to  a  first-class 
train  coach  in  the  yards,  unlocked  it,  and  told 
us  to  enter  and  spend  the  rest  of  the  night 
there. 

"At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  this  coach 
will  be  picked  up  by  the  train  to  Smolensk. 
Now,  go  to  sleep,  you  won't  have  to  be  on 
the  watch  this  time,"  he  said  with  a  sugges- 
tion of  a  smile. 

Weary  as  I  was  I  still  remembered  a  few 
more  things  to  say  to  "Larkin"  who  was  by 
this  time  somewhat  subdued.  It  was  not  un- 
til I  had  threatened  to  report  him  to  the  Mos- 


50      ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

cow  Government,  and  had  again  told  him  that 
it  was  a  brutal  thing  to  take  advantage  of 
men  who  were  doing  their  duty  under  the 
most  difficult  circumstances  conceivable,  that 
my  mind  was  lightened  sufficiently  so  that  I 
could  go  to  sleep. 

Of  one  thing  I  had  been  convinced — ^the 
general  efficiency  of  organization  which  I  had 
encountered  again  and  again  in  Soviet  Rus- 
sia. The  people  were  universally  kind,  but 
with  strangers  they  took  no  chances.  Well, 
I  concluded,  they  could  not  have  been  blamed 
if  they  had  kept  us  in  jail  for  a  long  while, 
until  they  had  checked  up  my  entire  record 
in  Russia,  at  least.  And  I  was  grateful  that 
my  prison  record  amounted  to  two  hours 
only,  thanks  to  the  expedition  with  which 
they  administer  trial  to  suspects  in  Red 
Russia. 

Shut  up  in  our  coach  we  sped  on  to 
Smolensk  the  next  day.  Another  twenty-four 
hours  in  Smolensk,  where  I  was  given  per- 
mission to  proceed  to  Moscow  and  again  I 
boarded  a  train.  I  had  been  relayed  from  one 
army  post  to  another;  from  the  company  to 
the  regiment,  from  the  regiment  to  the 
brigade,  from  the  brigade  to  the  division, 
from  the  division  to  the  army  command,  and 
from  the  army  command  to  the  high  com- 
mand. And  after  eight  days  I  was  almost 
within  reach  of  Moscow.  On  the  morrow  I 
would  be  off  for  Moscow  itself. 


OS 

T— I 

Oi 
I— I 

«?; 
K 


CHAPTER  IV 

MOSCOW 

I  REACHED  Moscow  on  Sunday  afternoon 
and  was  taken  at  once  by  *'Larkin"  to  the 
Foreign  Office  at  the  Metropole  hotel.  As 
we  drove  through  the  picturesque  town  of 
many  churches  we  passed  great  numbers  of 
people  enjoying  the  sunshine.  The  parks  and 
squares  were  full  of  romping  children. 

In  the  Foreign  Office  I  was  greeted  by  Lit- 
vinoff,  who  gave  me  credentials  which  granted 
me  freedom  of  action — freedom  to  go  where 
I  pleased  and  without  a  guard  as  long  as  I 
remained  in  Soviet  Russia;  and  Communist 
life  began  for  me. 

The  Metropole  hotel,  like  all  others  in 
Soviet  Russia,  had  been  taken  over  by  the 
Government.  The  rooms  not  occupied  by  the 
Foreign  Office  were  used  as  living  rooms  by 
Government  employees.  The  National  hotel  is 
used  entirely  for  Soviet  workers,  and  the 
beautiful  residence  in  which  Mirbach,  the 
German  ambassador,  was  assassinated  is  now 
the  headquarters  of  the  Third  International. 

No  one  was  allowed  to  have  more  than  one 
meal  a  day.  This  consisted  of  cabbage  soup, 
a  small  piece  of  fish  and  black  bread,  and  was 
served    at    Soviet   restaurants    at    any   time 

51 


52      "BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

between  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and 
seven  at  night.  There  were  a  few  old 
cafes  still  in  existence,  run  by  private 
speculators,  where  it  was  possible  to  purchase 
a  piece  of  meat  at  times,  but  the  prices  were 
exorbitant.  In  the  Soviet  restaurants  ten 
rubles  was  charged  for  the  meal,  while  in  the 
cafes  the  same  kind  of  meal  would  have  cost 
from  100  to  150  rubles. 

The  Soviet  restaurants  had  been  estab- 
lished everywhere,  in  villages  and  small  towns 
as  well  as  in  cities.  In  the  villages  and  rail- 
way stations  they  were  usually  in  the  station 
building  itself  or  near  it.  In  the  cities  they 
were  scattered  everywhere,  so  as  to  be  easily 
accessible  to  the  workers.  Some  of  them  were 
run  on  the  cafeteria  plan;  in  others  women 
carried  the  food  to  the  tables  for  the  other 
workers.  One  entered,  showed  his  credentials 
to  prove  that  he  was  a  worker  and  was  given 
a  meal  check,  for  which  he  paid  a  fixed  sum. 
Needless  to  say,  there  was  no  tipping.  I  had 
not  the  courage  to  experiment  by  offering  a 
tip  to  these  dignified,  self-respecting  women. 
I  think  they  would  have  laughed  at  my 
*^ stupid  foreign  ways"  had  I  done  so. 

The  old  cafe  life  of  Moscow  was  a  thing  of 
the  past.  If  you  wished  anything  to  eat  at 
night  you  had  to  purchase  bread  and  tea 
earlier  in  the  day  and  make  tea  in  your  room. 
This  was  very  simple  because  the  kitchens  in 
hotels    were    used    exclusively    for    heating 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      53 

water.  At  breakfast  time  and  all  through  the 
evening  a  stream  of  people  went  to  the 
kitchen  with  pails  and  pitchers  for  hot  water 
which  they  carried  to  their  rooms  themselves 
where  they  made  their  tea  and  munched  black 
bread.  There  were  no  maids  or  bell  boys  to 
do  these  errands  for  you,  and  the  only  ser- 
vice you  got  in  a  hotel  was  that  of  a  maid 
who  cleaned  your  room  each  morning. 

The  working  people  would  buy  a  pound  or 
two  of  black  bread  in  the  evening  on  their 
way  home.  They  had  their  samovars  on 
which  they  made  tea,  and  if  they  felt  so 
inclined  ate  in  the  evening.  For  breakfast 
they  again  had  tea  and  black  bread  like  every 
one  else.  As  a  result  of  this  diet  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  people  were  suffering  from 
malnutrition.  The  bulk  of  the  people  in  the 
city  were  hungry  all  the  time. 

I  found  the  tramway  service, — reduced 
fifty  percent  because  of  the  lack  of  fuel, — 
miserably  inadequate  for  the  needs  of  the 
population  which  had  greatty  increased  since 
Moscow  became  the  capital.  The  citizens  in 
their  necessity  have  developed  the  most  ex- 
traordinary propensities  in  step-clinging. 
They  swarm  on  the  platforms  and  stand  on 
one  another's  feet  with  the  greatest  good  na- 
ture, and  then,  when  there  isn't  room  to 
wedge  in  another  boot,  the  late-comers  cling 
to  the  bodies  of  those  who  have  been  lucky 
enough  to  get  a  foothold,  and  still  others 


54      ** BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'* 

cling  to  these,  until  the  overhanging  mass 
reaches  half-way  to  the  curb.  I  tried  it  once 
myself — and  walked  thereafter.  There  were 
not  many  automobiles  to  be  seen.  The  Gov- 
ernment had  requisitioned  all  cars.  The  mo- 
tors were  run  by  coal  oil  and  alcohol,  and  the 
Government  had  very  little  of  these. 

During  my  second  day  in  Moscow  I  met 
some  English  prisoners  walking  quite  freely 
in  the  streets.  I  went  up  to  a  group  of  three 
and  told  them  I  was  an  American,  and  asked 
how  they  were  getting  on.  They  said  they 
wanted  to  go  home  because  the  food  was 
scarce,  but  aside  from  the  lack  of  food  they 
had  nothing  to  complain  of. 

**0f  course  food  is  scarce,"  said  one,  "but 
we  get  just  as  much  as  anyone  else.  Nobody 
gets  much.  You  see  us  walking  about  the 
streets.  No  one  is  following  us.  We  are 
free  to  go  where  we  please.  They  send  us 
to  the  theatre  three  nights  a  week.  We  go 
to  the  opera  and  the  ballet.  That's  what  they 
do  with  all  prisoners." 

Another  broke  in  enthusiastically  to  say 
that  if  there  were  only  food  enough  he  would 
be  glad  to  stay  in  Eussia.  Several  of  their 
pals,  they  told  me,  were  working  in  Soviet 
offices. 

They  belonged  to  a  detachment  of  ninety 
English  who  had  been  captured  six  months 
before,  on  the  Archangel  front.  Before  they 
went  into  action,  they  said,  their  commanding 


''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      55 

officer  told  each  one  to  carry  a  hand  grenade 
in  his  pocket,  and  if  taken  prisoner  to  blow 
off  his  head. 

^*The  Bolsheviki,"  he  told  us,  **  would  tor- 
ture us — first  they  would  cut  off  a  finger,  then 
an  ear,  then  the  tip  of  the  nose,  and  they 
would  keep  stripping  us  and  torturing  us 
until  we  died  twenty-one  days  later. 

^'Well,  before  we  knew  it  the  Bolsheviki 
had  us  surrounded.  There  was  nothing  to 
do  but  surrender — and  none  of  us  used  his 
bomb.  The  Bolsheviks  marched  us  back 
about  ten  miles  to  a  barrack,  where  we  were 
told  to  sit  down.  Pretty  soon  they  brought 
in  a  samovar  and  gave  us  tea  and  bread,  and 
when  we  were  about  half  through  eating  they 
brought  in  bundles  of  pamphlets.  The  pam- 
phlets were  all  printed  in  English,  mind  you, 
and  they  told  us  why  we  had  been  sent  to 
Russia." 

I  recognized  in  his  description  the  thing 
I  had  seen  myself  on  the  Western  Front  a  few 
days  before.  I  asked  him  if  that  was  the 
usual  way  of  treating  prisoners. 

^*Yes,"  he  said,  ^* that's  the  way  they  do 
it.  They  don't  kill  you.  They  just  feed  you 
with  tea  and  bread,  and  this — what  they  call 
on  the  outside  'propaganda'  and  they  say  to 
you,  *you  read  this  stuff  for  a  week,'  and  you 
do,  and  you  believe  it — you  can't  help  it." 

It  was  bitterly  cold  in  Moscow,  though  the 
Bolshevists   made    light   of   the    September 


56      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

weather  and  laughed  at  my  complaints.  "Stay 
the  winter  with  us,"  they  said,  "and  you 
will  learn  what  cold  is."  The  city  was  prac- 
tically without  heat.  The  chill  and  damp  en- 
tered my  bones  and  pursued  me  through  the 
streets  and  into  my  bed  at  night.  One  can 
stand  prolonged  exposure  and  cold  if  there 
is  only  the  sustaining  thought  of  a  glowing 
fire  somewhere,  and  a  warm  bed.  But  in 
Moscow  there  was  no  respite  from  the  relent- 
less chill.  One  was  cold  all  day  and  all  night. 
The  aching  pinch  of  it  tore  at  the  nerves.  I 
marvelled  at  the  endurance  of  the  under- 
nourished clerks  and  officials  in  the  great 
damp  Government  office  buildings,  where  it 
was  often  colder  than  in  the  dry  sunshine 
outside. 

All  the  large  department  stores  and  the 
clothing  and  shoe  shops  had  been  taken  over 
by  the  Government.  Here  and  there,  how- 
ever, were  small  private  shops,  selling  goods 
without  regard  to  Government  prices. 

The  Soviet  stores  were  arranged  much  like 
our  large  department  stores.  One  could  go 
in  and  buy  various  commodities,  shoes  in  one 
department,  clothing  in  another,  and  so  on. 
Soviet  employees  had  the  right  at  all  times  to 
purchase  in  these  stores  at  Soviet  prices. 
They  carried  credentials  showing  they  were 
giving  useful  service  to  the  Government. 
Without  credentials  one  could  buy  nothing — 


*' BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'*      57 

not  even  food — except  from  the  privately- 
owned  shops. 

To  these  the  peasant  speculators  would 
bring  home-made  bread  in  sacks  and  sell  it 
to  the  shop  speculators,  who  in  turn  de- 
manded as  much  as  eighty  rubles  a  pound. 
This  was  the  only  way  of  getting  bread  with- 
out credentials  because  the  Government  had 
taken  control  of  the  bakeries.  In  a  Soviet 
store  a  pound  of  bread  could  be  bought  for 
ten  rubles. 

All  unnecessary  labor  in  Soviet  stores  had 
been  eliminated.  Young  girls  and  women 
acted  as  clerks;  very  few  men  were  employed 
in  any  capacity.  The  manager,  who  usually 
was  to  be  found  on  the  first  floor,  was  a  man, 
and  he  directed  customers  to  the  departments 
which  sold  the  things  they  wished  to  pur- 
chase. The  elevators  were  running  not  only 
in  the  stores,  but  in  the  office  buildings. 

White  collars  and  white  shirts  could  be 
bought  in  some  stores,  but  they  were  rationed 
so  that  it  w^ould  have  been  impossible  to  buy 
three  or  four  shirts  at  one  time.  The  win- 
dows in  the  stores  were  filled  with  articles, 
but  there  was  no  attempt  to  display  goods, 
and  there  was  no  advertising. 

A  shine,  a  shave  and  a  hair-cut  were  obtain- 
able at  the  Soviet  barber  shops.  They  were 
not  rationed ;  one  could  buy  as  many  of  these 
as  desired. 

Theatres  and  operas  were  open  and  largely 


58      "BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

attended  in  Moscow,  and  the  actors  and  ac- 
tresses, as  well  as  the  singers,  did  not  seem 
to  mind  the  cold. 

The  streets  were  but  dimly  lighted,  because 
of  the  fuel  shortage,  but  I  saw  and  heard  of 
no  crimes  being  committed.  I  wandered 
about  the  city  through  many  of  its  darkest 
streets,  at  all  hours  of  the  night,  and  was 
never  molested.  Now  and  then  a  policeman 
demanded  my  permit,  which,  when  I  had 
shown  it,  was  accepted  without  question.  The 
city  was  well  policed,  the  streets  fairly  clean, 
and  the  government  was  doing  everything 
possible  to  prevent  disease.  Orders  were 
issued  that  all  water  must  be  boiled,  but  as 
all  Russians  drink  tea  this  order  was  not 
unusual  or  difficult  to  carry  out. 

The  telephone  and  telegraph  systems 
seemed  to  me  unusually  good.  Connections 
by  telephone  between  Moscow  and  Petrograd 
were  obtained  in  two  minutes.  Local  service 
was  prompt  and  efficient,  and  connections 
with  wrong  numbers  were  of  rare  occurrence. 

Many  newspapers  were  being  published, 
the  size  of  all  being  limited  on  account  of 
the  shortage  of  paper.  In  addition  to  the 
Government  newspapers  and  the  Bolshevist 
party  papers  there  were  papers  of  opposing 
parties,  notably  publications  controlled  by 
the  Menshevists  and  the  Social  Revolu- 
tionists. 

All  of  them  were  free  from  the  advertising 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"       59 

of  business  firms,  since  the  Government  had 
nationalized  all  trade.  Of  course  there  was 
no  "funny  page"  or  *' Women's  Section." 

As  soon  as  news  came  from  the  front  great 
bulletins  were  distributed  through  the  city 
and  posted  on  the  walls  of  buildings  where 
every  one  could  read  them.  These  bulletins 
contained  the  news  of  both  defeat  and  vic- 
tory. If  prisoners  had  been  taken  or  a  re- 
treat had  been  necessary,  the  populace  was 
informed  of  it  frankly.  There  w^as  no  at- 
tempt to  keep  up  the  "morale"  of  the  civilian 
population  by  assuring  it  that  all  went  well 
and  that  victory  was  certain.  Any  one  in 
Soviet  Russia  who  accepted  the  responsibil- 
ities of  the  new  order  did  so  knowing  that  it 
meant  hardship  and  defeat — for  a  time. 

In  Moscow  many  statues  have  been  erected 
since  the  revolution,  Skobileff  Square, — 
now  called  Soviet  Square, — has  a  statue  of 
Liberty  which  takes  the  place  of  the  old 
statue  of  Skobileff.  I  saw  sculptors  at  work 
all  over  the  city,  putting  in  medallions  and 
bas-reliefs,  on  public  buildings.  In  Red 
Square,  along  the  Kremlin  wall,  are  the 
graves  of  many  who  fell  in  the  revolution. 
Sverdlov,  formerly  president  of  the  executive 
committee,  and  a  close  friend  of  Lenin,  is 
buried  here.  I  was  told  that  his  death  had 
been  a  great  loss  to  the  Soviet  Government. 

Moscow,  like  all  the  other  Russian  cities  I 
saw,  had  schools  everywhere,  art  schools,  mu- 


60      "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

sical  conservatories,  teclmical  schools,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  regular  schools  for  children. 

On  ** Speculator's  Street"  in  Moscow  all 
kinds  of  private  trading  went  on  without  in- 
terference. I  found  this  street  thronged  with 
shoppers  and  with  members  of  the  old  bour- 
geoisie selling  their  belongmgs  along  the 
curb;  men  and  women  umnistakably  of  the 
former  privileged  classes  offering,  dress  suits, 
opera  cloaks,  evening  gOAvns,  shoes,  hats,  and 
jewelry  to  any  one  who  would  pay  them  the 
rubles  that  they,  in  turn,  must  give  to  the 
exorbitant  speculators  for  the  very  necessities 
of  life. 

These  irreconcilables  of  the  old  regime,  un- 
willing to  cooperate  with  the  new  government 
and  refusing  to  engage  in  useful  work  which 
would  entitle  them  to  purchase  their  supplies 
at  the  Soviet  shops,  at  Soviet  prices,  were 
compelled  to  resort  to  the  speculators  and  un- 
der pressure  of  the  constantly  decreasing 
ruble  and  the  wildly  soaring  prices,  were 
driven  to  sacrifice  their  valuables  in  order  to 
avoid  starvation.  Any  one  who  desired  and 
who  had  the  money  could  buy  from  the  spec- 
ulators; but  one  pays  dearly  for  pride  in 
Soviet  Eussia.  The  speculators  charged  sev- 
enty-five rubles  a  pound  for  black  bread  that 
could  be  bought  in  the  Government  shops  for 
ten  rubles.  The  right  to  buy  at  the  Soviet 
shops  and  to  eat  in  the  Soviet  restaurants  was 
to  be  had  by  the  mere  demonstration  of  a  sin- 


**BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      61 

cere  desire  to  do  useful  work  of  hand  or 
brain.  Nevertheless  these  defenders  of  the 
old  order  still  held  out — fewer  of  them 
every  day,  to  be  sure — and  the  speculators 
throve  accordingly. 

It  seemed  at  first  glance  a  strange  anomaly. 
I  could  see  through  the  windows  of  the  specu- 
lator's shops  canned  goods  and  luxuries,  and 
even  necessities,  for  which  the  majority  of 
the  population  were  suffering.  I  asked  why 
the  Government  did  not  put  its  principles 
into  practice  by  requisitioning  all  these 
stocks  and  ending  the  speculation.  There 
were  many  things  in  their  program,  the  Bol- 
shevists said,  which  could  not  be  carried  out 
at  once  because  the  energy  of  the  Government 
was  consumed  in  the  mobilization  of  all  avail- 
able resources  for  national  defence.  There 
were  thousands  of  speculators  all  over  Rus- 
sia, and  it  would  take  a  small  army  to  elim- 
inate them  entirely.  Half  measures  would 
only  drive  them  underground  where  they 
would  be  a  constant  source  of  irritation  and 
anti-Government  propaganda.  It  was  better 
to  let  them  operate  in  the  open,  they  said, 
where  they  could  be  kept  under  observation 
and  restrained  within  certain  limits. 

Meanwhile  the  speculators  were  eliminating 
themselves  and  dragging  with  them  the  re- 
calcitrant bourgeoisie  on  whom  they  preyed. 
Hoarded  wealth  and  old  finery  do  not  last 
forever.    As  the  ruble  falls  and  the  specula- 


62      •* BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

tor's  prices  rise  their  victims  are  compelled 
to  sacrifice  more  and  more  of  their  dwindling 
resources.  The  Government  prices  are  a  stand- 
ing temptation  to  reconciliation.  Only  the 
obdurate  bourgeoisie  and  the  sj)eculators  suf- 
fer from  the  depreciation  of  the  ruble.  Every 
two  months  wages  are  adjusted  to  meet  de- 
preciation, by  a  Government  commission 
which  acts  in  conjunction  with  the  Central 
Federation  of  All  Russian  Professional  Al- 
liances, representing  skilled  and  unskilled 
labor.  This  serves  to  stabilize  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  workers  earnings,  although  in 
the  past  unavoidable  and  absolute  dearth  of 
necessities  has  tended  to  work  against  this 
stabilization. 

In  the  meantime  the  falling  ruble  and 
the  avaricious  speculator  between  them  drive 
thousands  of  the  stubborn  into  the  category 
of  useful  laborers.  Every  day  brings  nmn- 
bers  who  have,  either  through  a  change  of 
heart,  or  by  economic  necessity,  been  driven 
to  ask  for  work  which  will  entitle  them  to 
their  bread  and  food  cards.  Thus  the  Com- 
munists, too  busy  with  the  military  defence 
of  their  country  to  attend  to  the  last  meas- 
ures of  expropriation,  make  use  of  the  ir- 
resistible economic  forces  of  the  old  order 
and  aUow  the  capitalists  to  expropriate  them- 
selves. 

I  found  no  Red  terror.  There  was  seri- 
ous restriction  of  personal  liberty  and  stern 


LENIN  IN  SWITZERLAND,   MARCH,   191(i 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"       63 

enforcement  of  law  and  order,  as  might  be 
expected  in  a  nation  threatened  with  foreign 
invasion,  civil  war,  counter  revolution,  and 
an  actual  blockade.  While  I  was  in  Moscow 
sixty  men  and  seven  women  were  shot  for 
complicity  in  a  counter  revolutionary  plot. 
They  had  arms  stored  in  secret  places  and 
had  been  found  guilty  of  circularizing  the 
soldiers  on  the  Denikin  front,  telling  them 
that  Petrograd  and  Moscow  had  both  fallen. 
They  made  no  concealment  of  their  purpose  to 
overthrow  the  Government  and  went  brave- 
ly to  their  execution.  Several  days  later  two 
bombs  were  exploded  under  a  building  in 
which  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Connnittee 
of  the  Communist  party  w^as  being  held. 
Eleven  of  the  Communists  were  killed  and 
more  than  twenty  wounded.  The  cadet  coun- 
ter revolutionists,  it  was  charged,  committed 
this  outrage  as  reprisal  for  the  execution  of 
their  comrades.  But  no  terror  or  persecution 
followed.  Instead  great  mass  meetings  were 
held  everywhere  to  protest  against  all  ter- 
rorist acts.  Intrigue  and  propaganda  were 
met  with  counter  propaganda  and  popular 
enthusiasm  for  the  Soviet  Government. 

Before  leaving  Moscow  for  Petrograd  I  ap- 
plied at  the  Foreign  Office  for  permission  to 
go  to  the  Kremlin  and  interview  Lenin.  I 
was  told  that  permission  would  be  granted, 
and  an  appointment  was  made  for  me  to 
meet  Lenin  at  his  office  at  three  o'clock  on 
the  following  day. 


CHAPTER  V 
INTERVIEW  WITH  LENIN 

A  QUARTER  of  an  hour  ahead  of  the 
hour  set  for  my  appointment  with 
Lenin,  I  hastened  to  the  Kremlin  enclosure, 
the  well-guarded  seat  of  the  executive  gov- 
ernment. Two  Russian  soldiers  inspected 
my  pass  and  led  me  across  a  bridge  to  obtain 
another  pass  from  a  civilian  to  enter  the 
Kremlin  itself  and  to  return  to  the  outside. 
I  had  heard  that  Lenin  was  guarded  by 
Chinese  soldiers,  but  I  looked  in  vain  for  a 
Chinese  among  the  guards  that  surrounded 
the  Kremlin.  In  fact  I  saw  but  two  Chinese 
soldiers  during  my  entire  stay  in  Soviet 
Russia. 

I  mounted  the  hill  and  went  toward  the 
building  where  Lenin  lives  and  has  his  office. 
At  the  outer  door  two  more  soldiers  met  me, 
inspected  my  passes,  and  directed  me  up  a 
long  staircase,  at  the  top  of  which  stood  two 
more  soldiers.  They  directed  me  down  a  long 
corridor  to  another  soldier  who  sat  before  a 
door.  This  one  inspected  my  passes  and 
finally  admitted  me  to  a  large  room  in  which 
many  clerks,  both  men  and  women,  were  busy 

64 


''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA''      65 

over  desks  and  typewriters.  In  the  next 
room  I  found  Lenin's  secretary  who  in- 
formed me  that  *' Comrade  Lenin  will  be  at 
liberty  in  a  few  minutes/^  It  was  then  five 
minutes  before  three.  A  clerk  gave  me  a  copy 
of  the  London  Times,  dated  September  2, 
1919,  and  told  me  to  sit  down.  While  I  read 
an  editorial  the  secretary  addressed  me  and 
asked  me  to  go  into  the  next  room.  As  I 
turned  to  the  door  it  opened,  and  Lenin  stood 
waiting  with  a  smile  on  his  face. 

It  was  twelve  minutes  past  three,  and  Le- 
nin's first  words  were,  *'I  am  glad  to  meet 
you,  and  I  apologize  for  keeping  you  wait- 
ing." 

Lenin  is  a  man  of  middle  height,  close  to 
fifty  years  of  age.  He  is  well  proportioned, 
and  very  active,  physically,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  he  carries  in  his  body  two  bullets 
fired  at  him  in  August,  1918.  His  head  is 
large,  massive  in  outline,  and  is  set  close  to 
his  shoulders.  His  forehead  is  broad  and 
high,  his  mouth  large,  the  eyes  wide  apart 
and  there  appears  in  them  at  times  a  very 
infectious  twinkle.  His  hair,  pointed  beard, 
and  mustache,  have  a  brown  tinge.  His  face 
has  wrinkles,— said  by  some  to  be  wrinkles 
of  humor,— but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  them 
the  result  of  deep  study,  and  of  the  suffering 
he  endured  through  long  years  of  exile  and 
persecution.  I  would  not  minimize  the  con- 
tribution that  his  sense  of  humor  has  made 


66      ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

to  these  lines  and  wrinl^les,  for  no  man  who 
lacked  a  sense  of  humor  could  have  overcome 
the  obstacles  he  has  met. 

During  our  conversation  his  eyes  never  left 
mine.  This  direct  regard  was  not  that  of  a 
man  who  wished  to  be  on  guard;  it  bespoke 
a  frank  interest,  which  seemed  to  me  to  say, 
**We  shall  be  able  to  tell  many  things  of  in- 
terest to  each  other.  I  believe  you  to  be  a 
friend.  In  any  event  we  shall  have  an  inter- 
esting talk." 

He  moved  his  chair  close  to  his  desk  and 
turned  so  that  his  knees  were  close  to  mine. 
Ahnost  at  once  he  began  asking  me  about  the 
labor  movement  in  America,  and  from  that 
he  went  on  to  discuss  the  labor  situation  in 
other  countries.  He  was  thoroughly  informed 
even  as  to  the  most  recent  developments 
everywhere.  I  soon  found  myself  asking 
him  questions. 

I  told  him  that  the  press  of  various  coun- 
tries had  been  saying  that  Soviet  Russia  was 
a  dictatorship  of  a  small  minority.  He  re- 
plied, '*Let  those  who  believe  that  silly  tale 
come  here  and  mingle  with  the  rank  and  file 
and  learn  the  truth. 

*'The  vast  majority  of  industrial  workers 
and  at  least  one-half  of  the  articulate  peasan- 
try are  for  Soviet  rule,  and  are  prepared  to 
defend  it  with  their  lives. 

"You  say  you  have  been  along  the  West- 
ern Front,"  he  continued.    "You  admit  that 


*'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      67 

you  have  been  allowed  to  mingle  with  the 
soldiers  of  Soviet  Russia,  that  you  have  been 
unhampered  in  making  your  investigation. 
You  have  had  a  very  good  opportunity  to 
understand  the  temper  of  the  rank  and  file. 
You  have  seen  thousands  of  men  living  from 
day  to  day  on  black  bread  and  tea.  You  have 
probably  seen  more  suffering  in  Soviet  Rus- 
sia than  you  had  ever  thought  possible,  and 
all  this  because  of  the  unjust  war  being  made 
upon  us,  including  the  economic  blockade,  in 
all  of  which  your  own  country  is  playing  a 
large  part.  Now  I  ask  you  what  is  your 
opinion  about  this  being  a  dictatorship  of  the 
minority?" 

I  could  only  answer  that  from  what  I  had 
seen  and  experienced  I  could  not  believe  that 
these  people,  who  had  found  their  strength 
and  overthrown  a  despotic  Czar,  would  ever 
submit  to  such  privations  and  sufferings  ex- 
cept in  defence  of  a  government  in  which, 
however  imperfect,  they  had  ultimate  faith, 
and  which  they  were  prepared  to  defend 
against  all  odds. 

**What  have  you  to  say  at  this  time  about 
peace  and  foreign  concessions?"  I  asked. 

He  answered,  *'I  am  often  asked  whether 
those  American  opponents  of  ,  the  war 
against  Russia — as  in  the  first  place  bour- 
geois— are  right  who  expect  from  us,  after 
peace  is  concluded,  not  only  resumption  of 
trade  relations  but  also  the  possibility  of  se- 


68      ^'BABBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

curing  concessions  in  Russia.  I  repeat  once 
more  that  they  are  right.  A  durable  peace 
would  be  such  a  relief  to  the  toiling  masses 
of  Russia  that  these  masses  would  undoubt- 
edly agree  to  certain  concessions  being 
granted.  The  granting  of  concessions  under 
reasonable  terms  is  also  desirable  to  us,  as 
one  of  the  means  of  attracting  into  Russia 
the  technical  help  of  the  countries  which  are 
more  advanced  in  this  respect,  during  the 
co-existence  side  by  side  of  Socialist  and  cap- 
italist states.'' 

In  reply  to  my  next  question  about  Soviet 
power  he  replied: 

*^As  for  the  Soviet  power,  it  has  become 
familiar  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  labor- 
ing masses  of  the  whole  world  which  clearly 
grasped  its  meaning.  Everywhere  the  labor- 
ing masses,  in  spite  of  the  influence  of  the 
old  leaders  with  their  chauvinism  and  oppor- 
tunism which  permeates  them  through  and 
through,  became  aware  of  the  rottenness  of 
the  bourgeois  parliaments  and  of  the  neces- 
sity of  the  Soviet  power,  the  power  of  the 
toiling  masses,  the  dictatorship  of  the  pro- 
letariat, for  the  sake  of  the  emancipation  of 
humanity  from  the  yoke  of  capital.  And 
the  Soviet  power  will  win  in  the  whole  world, 
however  furiously,  however  frantically  the 
bourgeoisie  of  all  countries  may  rage  and 
storm. 

*'The   bourgeoisie   inundates   Russia  with 


''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      69 

blood,  waging  war  upon  us  and  inciting 
against  us  the  counter  revolutionaries,  those 
who  wish  the  yoke  of  capital  to  be  restored. 
The  bourgeoisie  inflict  upon  the  working 
masses  of  Eussia  unprecedented  sufferings, 
through  the  blockade,  and  through  their  help 
given  to  the  counter  revolutionaries,  but  we 
have  already  defeated  Kolchak  and  we  are 
carrying  on  the  war  against  Denikin  with  the 
firm  assurance  of  our  coming  victory." 

In  his  replies  to  my  last  questions  he  had 
covered  the  ground  of  the  others  on  my  list, 
and  since  the  fifteen  minutes  allotted  to  me 
had  extended  to  more  than  an  hour,  I  rose 
to  go.  I  intended  to  ask  him  about  ^*  nation- 
alization of  women."  I  had  never  believed 
the  story,  and  had  already  discovered  that  it 
was  false,  but  I  had  thought  to  ask  Lenin 
how  the  story  arose.  "When  I  met  him  and 
had  talked  to  him  something  in  his  face 
silenced  the  question.  Perhaps  it  was  the 
mocking  humor  that  seemed  ready  to  flash 
out  of  the  wrinkled  countenance  in  scathing 
ridicule,  or  perhaps  it  was  the  sign  of  long- 
suffering  and  profound  thought  that  lay 
deeper.  Whatever  it  was  I  did  not  ask  that 
question.  I  had  seen  for  myself  that  women 
in  Soviet  Russia  are  shown  a  respect  and 
deference  far  exceeding  the  superficial  polite- 
ness which  in  other  countries  too  often  serves 
to  conceal  political,  economic,  and  domestic 
oppression.    Women  are  on  an  equal  footing 


70      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

in  all  respects  with  men  in  Russia,  and  they 
enjoy  a  greater  measure  of  freedom  and 
security  than  the  women  of  other  countries. 

He  shook  hands  cordially,  and  I  went 
away  cudgelling  my  brains  to  find  another  fig- 
ure among  the  statesmen  of  the  world  with 
whom  I  might  compare  him.  I  could  think 
only  of  our  own  Lincoln,  whose  image  came 
to  me,  suggested  perhaps  by  the  sunplicity 
and  plainness  of  Lenin's  attire.  Workman's 
shoes,  worn  trousers,  a  soft  shirt  with  a  black 
four-in-hand  tie,  a  cheap  office  coat,  and  the 
kindly  strong  face  and  figure, — these  were 
my  impressions  of  the  man. 

He  works  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  hours  a 
day,  receiving  reports,  keeping  in  touch  with 
the  situation  all  over  Russia,  attending  com- 
mittee meetings,  making  speeches,  always 
ready  to  give  anyone  advice,  counsel,  or  sug- 
gestion. He  lives  with  his  wife  who  is  most 
loyal  and  devoted,  in  the  same  building  where 
he  has  his  office,  in  two  modestly  furnished 
rooms. 

Soviet  rule  has  captured  not  only  the  im- 
agination, but  also  the  intellects  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  rank  and  file  of  Russia.  Lenin 
is  looked  upon  as  the  highest  representative 
of  that  principle;  he  is  trusted  and  he  is 
loved.  I  was  told  that  so  many  people  come 
to  see  him  from  the  outlying  districts,  men, 
women,  and  children,  that  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  see  them  all.     They  bring  him 


"BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      71 

bread,  eggs,  butter,  and  fruit, — and  he  turns 
all  into  the  common  fund. 

Sometime  in  the  future,  whatever  may 
happen  to  Soviet  Russia,  the  true  life  of  Le- 
nin will  be  written,  and  when  it  is  he  will 
stand  out  as  one  of  history's  most  remarkable 
men. 


CHAPTER  yj 
''WHO  IS  LENIN?" 

MANY  conflicting  stories  were  told  and 
published  about  Lenin  after  the  Bol- 
shevist uprising  in  November,  1917.  I  de- 
cided to  ascertain  for  myself  during  the  two 
weeks  I  spent  in  Switzerland  before  going 
into  Eussia  what  the  people  of  that  country 
knew  about  him. 

Lenin  arrived  in  Switzerland  in  Septem- 
ber, 1914,  and  left  for  Russia  in  March,  1917, 
with  thirty  other  Russians,  on  the  much- 
talked-of  train  that  went  through  Germany 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Kaiser. 

A  whole  myth  has  grown  up  around  Lenin 
since  his  return  to  Russia.  He  was  a  German 
agent;  he  was  sent  from  Switzerland  to  Rus- 
sia through  Germany ;  he  went  for  the  express 
purpose  of  fomenting  revolution  in  order  to 
break  down  the  morale  of  the  Russian  Army 
and  to  make  it  possible  for  German  militarism 
to  conquer.  Document  after  document  was 
printed  to  prove  that  this  man  was  mercenary, 
that  he  was  cold-blooded,  without  ideals  of  any 
kind,  and  that  he  had  received  millions  in 
money  from  the  Germans,  whose  plans  he 
conscientiously  carried  out, — at  least  in  con- 

72 


<*BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA''      73 

nection  with  the  disorganization  of  the  Rus- 
sian Army.  While  in  Switzerland  for  two 
years  during  the  war,  he  lived  in  luxury,  al- 
ways had  plenty  of  money  which  was  sup- 
plied from  an  unknown  source,  later  dis- 
covered to  be  the  banks  of  Germany. 

I  found  when  I  went  to  Zurich  that  Lenin 
had  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  time  when 
in  Switzerland  in  that  town,  and  had  lived 
in  the  poor  quarter  of  the  city.  The  house 
in  which  he  and  his  wife  lived,  No.  14  Spie- 
gelgasse,  is  on  a  very  narrow  street  running 
down  to  the  quay.  They  lived  in  one  room 
on  the  second  floor  of  this  house.  Their 
meagre  furniture  included  a  table,  a  wash- 
stand,  two  plain  chairs,  a  small  stove,  a  bed, 
a  couch,  and  a  petrol  lamp.  The  room  had 
a  plaster  ceiling  and  was  unpapered,  the  bare 
board  walls  seeming  most  bleak.  A  cheap, 
dingy  carpet  covered  the  floor.  The  room 
was  accessible  only  through  a  dark  nar- 
row corridor.  On  the  same  floor  were  three 
other  rooms,  two  of  which  were  occupied  by 
two  families,  and  the  third  was  used  as  a 
common  kitchen  by  every  one.  In  this  kitchen 
Lenin's  wife,  who  was  his  constant  compan- 
ion, only  secretary  and  assistant,  prepared 
their  frugal  meals  and  carried  them,  to  their 
room. 

For  these  quarters  Lenin  paid  thirty-eight 
francs  a  month,  the  equivalent  of  six  dollars 
and  sixty  cents  in  American  money. 


74      **BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

I  was  told  by  many  people  who  had  known 
him  in  Zurich  that  Lenin  seemed  to  wish  to 
mingle  only  with  working  people  there.  His 
revolutionary  friends  took  great  pride  in  say- 
ing, **He  never  spent  any  time  with  mere  in- 
tellectual reformers."  They  told  me  that 
much  of  his  time  was  passed  in  the  Swiss 
Workers'  Assembly,  where  he  talked  to  every 
one,  but  never  made  any  speeches.  He  did 
speak,  however,  on  many  occasions  in  the 
Russian  Assembly  in  Zurich. 

His  income  was  derived  from  articles  writ- 
ten for  Russian  party  papers.  Before  leav- 
ing for  Russia  he  closed  his  account  at  a 
Zurich  bank  and  drew  out  the  balance  on 
deposit  there,  which  amounted  to  twenty-five 
francs. 

For  a  short  time  while  in  Switzerland  Le- 
nin lived  in  Berne,  in  two  rooms.  I  met  the 
woman  at  whose  Pension  he  dined  while 
there.  She  said  she  had  served  Lenin,  his 
wife,  and  his  wife's  mother  midday  dimiers 
while  they  stayed  there.  The  price  of  those 
meals  was  eighty  centimes  each, — approxi- 
mately sixteen  cents.  She  informed  me  that 
they  prepared  their  own  breakfasts  and  eve- 
ning meals. 

The  proprietor  of  the  Wiener  cafe,  a  coffee 
house  located  on  the  corner  of  Schrittfaren 
and  Gurtengasse  in  Berne,  told  me  that  he 
remembered  Lenin  well,  that  he  had  come 
into  his  place  oh  a  number  of  occasions  for 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      75 

a  cup  of  coffee.  **He  spent  most  of  his  time 
here  reading  the  papers  and  talking  with  the 
Avaiters,"  he  said,  and  described  him  as 
always  being  poorly  dressed. 

None  of  these  simple  people  thought  of 
Lenin  as  a  person  of  any  greater  import- 
ance than  themselves.  He  was  one  of  them, 
a  serious  student  who  mingled  with  working 
people,  eager  to  tell  them  of  their  importance 
in  the  political  world. 

When  the  Czar  was  overthrown  and  the 
Kerensky  Government  came  into  power, 
a  committee  of  all  the  Socialist  parties  in 
Switzerland  except  the  *' Social  Patriots" 
made  an  effort  to  assist  in  getting  Rus- 
sian exiles  back  to  their  own  country. 
This  committee  collected  the  money  for  the 
transportation  of  the  exiles.  They  endeav- 
ored to  secure  from  France,  England,  and 
Switzerland  permission  for  their  passage 
through  Archangel  to  Petrograd,  but  the 
Allied  governments  denied  this  permit.  Then 
the  Swiss  Socialists  entered  into  negotiations 
with  the  German  Government  to  secure  pas- 
sage through  Germany.  On  condition  that 
an  equal  number  of  civilian  prisoners  then 
held  in  Russia  be  allowed  to  return  to  Ger- 
many, the  German  Government  agreed  to  the 
passage  of  the  immigrants  through  Germany. 

The    following    statement,    signed   by   the 
members  of  the  Committee,  is  given  in  full, 


76      "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

even  to  the  peculiar  English  of  the  transla- 
tion. 

**TJie  Return  of  the  Russian  Emigrants.'^ 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Entente  news- 
papers have  recently  published  a  series  of 
sensational  and  false  accounts  and  articles  re- 
garding the  return  of  the  Russian  comrades 
(Lenin,  Zinovieff  and  others)  branding  them 
as  accomplices  and  agents  of  Imperial  Ger- 
many, as  coworkers  of  the  German  Govern- 
ment. Simultaneously  the  German  and  Aus- 
trian press  is  attempting  to  represent  these 
Russian  revolution  comrades  as  pacifists  and 
separate  peace  advocates,  we  therefore  deem 
it  necessary  to  publish  the  following  explana- 
tion under  the  Signature  of  the  Comrades  of 
France,  Germany,  Poland  and  Switzerland 
to  whitewash  the  Comrades  that  departed  to 
Russia. 

We  the  undersigned  are  aware  of  the  hin- 
drances which  the  governments  of  the  En- 
tente are  putting  in  the  way  of  our  Russian 
Internationalists  in  their  departure.  They 
learned  of  the  conditions  which  the  German 
Government  has  placed  before  them  for  their 
passage  through  to  Sweden. 

Not  having  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  the 
fact,  that  the  German  Goverimient  is  specula- 
ting by  it  to  strengthen  the  one-sided  anti- 
war tendencies  in  Russia,  we  declare: 

The  Russian  Internationalists  who  during 
the  whole  war  period  have  been  combating 


''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      77 

in  the  sharpest  possible  manner  imperial- 
ism in  general  and  the  German  imperialism 
in  particular,  and  who  are  now  going  to  Rus- 
sia in  order  to  work  there  for  the  cause  of 
the  Revolution,  will  thus  be  aiding  the  prole- 
tarians of  all  countries  as  well,  and  particu- 
larly the  German  and  Austrian  working  class 
by  encouraging  them  to  the  revolutionary 
struggle  against  their  own  governments. 

Nothing  can  be  more  stimulating  and  in- 
spiring in  this  respect  than  the  example  of 
the  heroic  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  Russian 
proletariat.  For  that  reason  we  the  under- 
signed Internationalists  of  France,  Switzer- 
land, Poland  and  Germany  consider  it  to  be 
not  only  the  right  but  a  duty  on  the  part  of 
our  Russian  comrades  to  use  the  opportunity 
for  the  voyage  to  Russia,  which  is  offered  to 
them. 

We  wish  them  the  best  results  in  the  strug- 
gle against  the  Imperialistic  policy  of  Rus- 
sian bourgeoisie,  which  constitutes  a  part  of 
our  general  struggle  for  the  liberation  of  the 
working  class,  for  the  social  revolution. 

Bern,  April  7,  1917. 
Paul  Hantstein,  Germany 
Henri  Guilbeaux,  France 
P.  Loriot,  France 
Bronski,  Poland 
F.  Flatten,  Swiss 

The  above  declaration  has  received  the  full 


78      "BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

approval  and  signature  of  the  following  Scan- 
dinavian comrades: 

Lindhagen,  Mayor  of  Stockholm 
Strom,  Congressman  and  Secretary  of 

S.  D.  P.  of  Sweden 
Karleson,  Congressman  and  President 

of  Trades  Union  Council 
Fure  Nerman,  Editor  PoUtiken 
Tchilbun,  Editor  Steuhleken 
Hansen,  Norway. 

The  next  train  left  in  May,  1917,  carrying 
three  hundred  Russians,  and  another  three 
hundred  went  through  Germany  in  July,  1917. 
In  July  the  French  and  English  governments 
finally  granted  permission  for  a  train-load  to 
pass  through  those  countries  to  Archangel 
and  thence  to  Russia.  This  trip  lasted  two 
months.  I  learned  that  the  May  and  July 
trains  also  carried  to  Russia  many  active 
Menshevists,  supporters  of  the  Kerensky 
Government. 

In  August  another  group  tried  to  return, 
but  because  Kerensky  protested,  the  French 
and  English  notified  this  group  that  they 
must  have  passports  from  Russia.  It  was 
then  impossible  to  go  through  Germany  be- 
cause of  battles  going  on  along  the  front. 
They  did  not  get  to  Russia  until  December, 
after  the  Russian-German  armistice. 

Zinovieff,  in  an  address  to  the  Petrograd 


*'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      79 

Soviet,  September  6,  1918,  told  the  story  of 
the  fabled  armored  train  as  follows : 

*'In  March,  1917,  Lenin  returned  to  Rus- 
sia. Do  you  remember  the  cries  that  went 
up  about  the  *  armored  train'  on  which  Le- 
nin and  the  rest  of  us  returned?  In  real- 
ity Lenin  felt  a  profound  hatred  of  German 
imperialism.  He  hated  it  no  less  than  he 
hated  any  other  brand  of  imperialism.  .  .  . 
When  a  prominent  member  of  the  Scheide- 
mann  party  attemi)ted  to  enter  our  car  (which 
was  not  armored)  in  order  to  ^ greet'  us,  he 
iwas  told,  at  Lenin's  suggestion,  that  we  would 
not  speak  to  traitors  and  that  he  would  be 
sparing  himself  insult  if  he  refrained  from 
trying  to  enter.  The  Mensheviki  and  the 
Social  Revolutionists,  who  were  rather  stub- 
born at  first,  later  on  came  back  to  Russia  in 
the  same  way  (more  than  three  hundred  of 
them).  Lenin  put  the  matter  simply,  'AH 
bourgeois  governments  are  brigands :  we  have 
no  choice  since  we  cannot  get  into  Russia  by 
any  other  way.'  " 

I  found  the  following  in  a  long  article  of 
appreciation  written  by  Ernest  Nobs,  editor 
of  the  Swiss  VolkrecJit,  published  in  Zu- 
rich in  December,  1917. 

*'One  who  has  seen  the  last  winter,  the 
medium-sized,  square-built  man,  with  a  some- 
what yellowish  face  and  sharp,  sparkling 
and  flashing  Mongol  eyes,  as  he  was  steering 
towards   some   library   in  a   wornout   ulster 


80      **BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

coat,  with  a  heap  of  books  under  his  arm, 
could  hardly  foresee  in  him  the  future  Rus- 
sian premier." 

In  the  address  mentioned  on  the  foregoing 
page,  delivered  at  the  time  Lenin  was  shot, 
Zinovieff  said : 

Vladimir  Ilyich  Ulyanoff  (Lenin)  was 
born  on  April  10,  1870,  in  the  city  of  Sim- 
birsk. His  father,  who  was  of  peasant  de- 
scent, was  employed  as  Director  of  Public 
Schools  in  the  Volga  region.  His  elder  bro- 
ther, Alexander  Ulyanoff  was  executed  by 
Czar  Alexander  III.  From  that  time  on  his 
mother  showered  all  her  tender  affections  on 
Vladimir  Ilyich,  and  Lenin  in  his  turn  dearly 
loved  her.  Living  as  an  emigrant,  an  exile, 
persecuted  by  the  Czar's  Government,  Lenin 
used  to  tear  himself  away  from  the  most 
urgent  tasks  to  go  to  Switzerland  to  see  his 
mother  in  her  last  days.    She  died  in  1913. 

Upon  his  graduation  from  high  school 
(gymnasium)  Vladimir  Ilyich  entered  the 
law  school  at  the  Kazan  University.  The  uni- 
versities of  the  capitals  were  closed  to  him 
because  he  was  the  brother  of  an  executed 
revolutionist.  A  month  after  his  entry  he 
was  expelled  from  the  University  for  partici- 
pation in  a  revolutionary  movement  of  the 
students.  It  was  not  until  four  years  had 
gone  by  that  he  was  allowed  to  resume  his 
studies.  The  legal  career  held  no  attrac- 
tions for  Lenin.  His  natural  inclinations 
lay  towards  the  field  of  revolutionary  ac- 


**BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA*'      81 

tivity.  .  .  .  When  lie  was  expelled  from 
the  Kazan  University  he  went  to  Petrograd. 
The  first  phase  of  his  activities  was 
confined  to  student  circles.  A  year  or  two 
later  he  created  in  Petrograd  the  first  *  work- 
men's circles'  and  a  little  later  crossed  swords 
on  the  literary  arena  with  the  old  leader  of 
the  Populists,  N.  K.  Mikhailovsky.  Under 
the  nom  de  plume  of  Ilyin,  Lenin  published 
a  series  of  brilliant  articles  on  economics 
which  at  once  won  him  a  name. 

In  Petrograd  he,  with  other  workers, 
founded  the  ^  Union  for  the  Emancipation  of 
the  Working  Class,'  and  conducted  the  first 
labor  strikes,  writing  meanwhile  leaflets  and 
pamphlets  remarkable  for  their  simplicity  of 
style  and  clarity.  These  were  printed  on  a 
hectograph  and  distributed.  .  .  .  Very 
often  now  workers  coming  from  far  off  Si- 
beria or  the  Ural  to  the  All-Eussian  Congress 
of  Soviets  recall  to  him  their  activities  to- 
gether in  the  early  90 's.  They  recognize  that 
he  was  their  teacher,  the  first  to  kindle  the 
spark  of  communism  in  them. 

In  the  90 's  Lenin  was  sentenced  to  a  long 
prison  term  and  then  exiled.  While  in  exile 
he  devoted  himself  to  scientific  and  literary 
activities,  and  wrote  a  number  of  books.  One 
of  these  reached  a  circle  of  exiles  in  Switzer- 
land, among  whom  were  Plekhanoff,  Axelrod, 
and  Zasulich,  who  welcomed  Lenin  as  the  har- 
binger of  a  coming  season,  and  who  could  not 


82      **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

find  words  of  praise  sufficiently  strong. 
Another  book,  a  truly  scientific  one,  won  the 
praise  of  Professor  Maxim  Kovalevsky  of  the 
Paris  School  of  Social  Science.  *'What  a 
good  professor  Lenin  would  have  made!"  he 
said. 

Vladimir  Ilyich  languished  in  exile  like 
a  caged  lion.  The  only  thing  that  saved  him 
was  the  fact  that  he  was  leading  the  life  of 
a  scientist.  He  used  to  spend  fifteen  hours 
daily  in  the  library  over  books,  and  it  is  not 
without  reason  that  he  is  now  one  of  the  most 
cultured  men  of  our  time.  ...  In  1901 
Lenin,  together  with  a  group  of  intmiate 
friends,  began  the  publication  of  a  newspa- 
per, Ishra,  The  Spark.  This  paper  not  only 
waged  a  political  struggle,  but  it  carried  on 
vast  organizing  activities,  and  Lenin  was  the 
soul  of  the  organizing  committee. 

Lenin's  wife,  Nadezhda  Konstantinovna 
Krupskaya  Ulyanova  was  the  secretary  of 
Iskra  and  the  secretary  of  the  organizing 
committee.  Throughout  Lenin's  activities 
as  an  organizer  a  considerable  share  of 
the  credit  is  due  to  his  wife.  All  the 
correspondence  was  in  her  charge.  At  one 
time  she  was  in  communication  with  en- 
tire Eussia.  Who  did  not  know  her?  Mar- 
tov  in  his  bitter  controversy  with  Lenin  once 
called  her  *' Secretary  of  Lenin,  the  Super- 
Center."  .    .    . 

In  the  summer  of  1905  the  first  confer- 


'*BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      83 

ence  of  the  Bolsheviki  was  called.  Officially 
it  was  known  as  -the  Third  Conference  of  the 
Eevolutionary  Social  Democratic  Labor 
Party.  This  conference  laid  the  corner-stone 
for  the  present  Communist  Party.  ...  In  the 
revolution  of  1905  Lenin's  part  was  enor- 
mous, although  he  was  residing  in  Petrograd 
illegally  and  was  forbidden  by  the  party  to 
attend  its  meetings  openly. 

Vladimir  Ilyich  was  exiled  for  the  sec- 
ond time  in  1907.  In  Geneva,  and  later  in 
Paris,  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Lenin, 
the  newspapers.  The  Proletarian  and  The 
Social  Democrat  were  founded.  Complete 
decadence  was  reigning  all  around.  Obscene 
literature  took  the  place  of  art  literature.  The 
spirit  of  nihilism  permeated  the  sphere  of 
politics.  Stolypin  was  indulging  in  his  or- 
gies. And  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  end 
to  all  this. 

At  such  times  true  leaders  reveal  them- 
selves. Vladimir  Ilyich  suffered  at  that  time, 
as  he  did  right  along  in  exile,  the  greatest 
personal  privations.  He  lived  like  a  pauper, 
he  was  sick  and  starved,  especially  when  he 
lived  in  Paris.  But  he  retained  his  courage 
as  no  one  else  did.  He  stood  flrmly  and 
bravely  at  his  post.  He  alone  knew  how 
to  weld  together  a  circle  of  gallant  fighters 
to  whom  he  used  to  say,  "Do  not  lose  your 
courage.     The  dark   days  will  pass,   a  few 


84      '^BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

years  wiU  elapse,  and  the  proletarian  revolu- 
tion will  be  revived." 

For  two  years  Lenin  scarcely  left  the 
national  library  at  Paris,  and  during  this 
time  he  accomplished  such  a  large  amount 
of  work  that  even  those  very  professors  who 
were  attempting  to  ridicule  his  philosophic 
works  admitted  that  they  could  not  under- 
stand how  a  man  could  do  so  much. 

The  years  1910-11  brought  a  fresh  breeze 
to  stir  the  atmosphere.  It  became  clear  in 
1911  that  the  workers'  movement  was  begin- 
ning to  revive.  We  had  in  Petrograd  a  pa- 
per, the  Star,  (Zviezda),  and  in  Moscow 
a  magazine,  Thought  (Mysl),  and  there  was 
a  small  labor  representation  in  the  Duma. 
And  the  principal  worker  both  on  these  pa- 
pers and  for  the  Duma  representation  was 
Lenin.  He  taught  the  principles  of  revolu- 
tionary parliamentarism  to  the  labor  depu- 
ties in  the  Duma.  *'You  just  get  up  and  tell 
the  whole  of  Russia  plainly  about  the  life  of 
the  worker.  Depict  the  horrors  of  the  capita- 
list galleys,  call  upon  the  workers  to  revolt, 
fling  into  the  face  of  the  black  Duma  the  name 
of  'scoundrels  and  exploiters.'  "  At  first  they 
found  this  strange  advice.  The  entire  Dmna 
atmosphere  was  depressing,  its  members  and 
ministers  met  in  the  Tauride  palace,  clad 
in  full  dress  suits.  They  learned  their  les- 
sons however. 

In   1912   we   started   to   lead   a   new   life. 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      85 

At  the  January  conference  of  that  year  the 
Bolsheviki  reunited  their  ranks  which  had 
been  broken  up  by  the  counter  revolution. 
At  the  request  of  the  new  Central  Executive 
Committee  Lenin  and  myself  went  to  Kra- 
kov  (Cracow,  in  Galicia).  There  comrades 
began  to  come  to  us  from  Petrograd,  Mos- 
cow, and  elsewhere.  I  recall  the  first  large 
general  meeting  of  the  Petrograd  metal 
workers,  in  1913.  Two  hours  after  our  can- 
didates had  been  elected  to  the  executive  com- 
mittee Lenin  received  a  wire  from  the  metal 
workers,  congratulating  him  upon  the  vic- 
tory. He  lived  a  thousand  versts  away  from 
Petrograd,  yet  he  was  the  very  soul  of  the 
workers  of  Petrograd.  It  was  a  repetition  of 
what  took  place  in  1906-7  when  Lenin  lived 
in  Finland,  and  we  used  to  visit  him  every 
week  to  receive  counsel  from  him.  From  the 
little  village  of  Kuokalla,  in  Finland,  he 
steered  the  labor  movement  of  Petrograd. 

In  1915-17  Lenin  was  leading  a  very  pe- 
culiar life  in  Switzerland.  The  war  and  the 
collapse  of  the  International  had  a  very 
marked  effect  on  him.  Many  of  his  comrades 
who  knew  him  well  were  surprised  at  the 
changes  wrought  in  him  by  the  war. 

He  never  felt  very  tenderly  toward  the 
bourgeoisie,  but  with  the  beginning  of  the 
war  he  began  to  nurture  a  concentrated,  keen, 
intense  hatred  for  them.  It  seemed  that  his 
very  countenance  had  changed. 


86      "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA*' 

In  Zurich  lie  resided  in  the  poorest  quar- 
ter, in  the  flat  of  a  shoemaker.  He  appeared 
to  be  after  every  single  proletarian,  trying 
as  it  were  to  get  hold  of  him  and  explain 
that  the  war  was  an  imperialistic  slaughter. 
.  .  .  .  Lenin  has  always  understood  what 
enormous  difficulties  would  arise  before  the 
working  class  after  it  had  seized  all  power. 
From  the  first  days  of  his  arrival  in  Petro- 
grad  he  carefully  observed  the  economic  dis- 
ruption. He  valued  his  acquaintance  with 
every  bank  employee,  striving  to  penetrate 
into  all  the  details  of  the  banking  business. 
He  was  well  aware  of  the  provisioning  prob- 
lem, and  of  other  difficulties.  In  one  of  his 
most  remarkable  books  he  dwells  at  length  on 
these  difficulties.  On  the  question  of  the 
nationalization  of  banks,  in  the  domain  of  the 
provisioning  policy  and  on  the  war  question 
Lenin  has  said  the  decisive  word.  He  worked 
out  concretely  the  plan  of  practical  measures 
to  be  adopted  in  all  domains  of  national  life, 
long  before  October  25,  (November  7), 
1917.  The  plan  is  clear,  concrete,  distinct, 
like  all  his  works.  ... 


ZINOVIEFF 
President   of   the    Petrograd    Soviet 


CHAPTER  VII 
PETROGRAD 

I    ARRIVED    at    the   Nicolai    station    in 
Petrograd    on   the    24th    of    September, 
from  Moscow,  and  went  at  once  to  the  Astoria 
hotel  on  St.  Isaac's  Square  at  the  farther 
end  of  Nevsky  Prospekt.    As  we  drove  along 
the  thoroughfare  I  noticed  workmen  tearing 
out  the  wooden  paving-blocks  which  covered 
that  famous  street,  and  recalled  having  read 
in  New  York  papers  that  whole  streets  in 
Petrograd  had  been  torn  up  and  used  for 
fuel.    This  seemed  credible  enough,  even  de- 
sirable, I  thought,  as  I  recalled  the  shivering 
nights   I  had  spent  in  Russia.     When  my 
droshky  came  nearer  to  the  crew  of  workers 
I  saw  worn  and  broken  blocks  piled  to  one 
side ;  in  their  places  new  blocks  had  been  put 
in.    Two  days  later  I  wallved  along  this  same 
thoroughfare  from  one  end  to  the  other,  still 
looking  for  unmended  gaps  in  the  paving. 
My  search  was  vain.    And  the  pavements  of 
the   side   streets,   on  which  I  walked  miles 
during  my  stay  in  Petrograd,  were  in  good 
condition. 
Many  of   the   shops   along   Nevsky  Pros- 

87 


88      ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

pekt  were  closed  and  boarded  up,  and  those 
that  remained  open  had  but  few  wares  on  th^ir 
shelves.  The  large  stores,  however,  now  con- 
verted into  Soviet  stores,  were  all  open  and 
contained  a  goodly  supply  of  various  com- 
modities, but  the  bright-colored  toys  that  used 
to  fill  the  shop  windows  of  Petrograd  had 
entirely  disappeared.  Apparently  the  peas- 
ants of  Russia,  busy  with  weightier  matters, 
had  found  no  time  to  carve  grotesque  wooden 
figures  and  charming  dolls  and  the  other 
gayly-colored  toys  they  know  so  well  how  to 
make.  The  Russian  child  who  does  not  have 
these  toys  left  over  from  the  old  days  has  to 
do  without. 

Whatever  beautiful  things  Russia  still  had, 
however,  were  placed  in  the  stores  along  with 
the  necessities.  They  were  not  regarded  as 
luxuries  for  the  few.  Art  belongs  to  every 
one  in  Soviet  Russia. 

I  learned  that  the  high  wall  which  used  to 
surround  the  Winter  Palace  of  the  Czar  had 
been  torn  down,  and  when  I  asked  why  -this 
had  been  done,  was  told  that  there  was  a 
beautiful  garden  back  of  this  wall,  and  since 
''beauty  should  not  be  hidden  from  the  peo- 
ple," they  had  torn  down  the  wall  so  that 
all  might  see  the  garden.  The  palace  itself 
was  unoccupied.  Its  art  treasures  had  been 
removed  to  Moscow,  and  placed  in  museums 
there.  It  was  planned  to  make  a  museum  of 
the  palace  later. 


''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      89 

On  my  second  day  in  Petrograd  I  went  out 
to  Smolny  Institute,  a  large  stone  structure 
overlooking  the  Neva,  formerly  a  school  for 
the  daughters  of  the  aristocracy,  now  the 
office  building  of  the  officials  and  workers  of 
the  Northern  Commune  and  Petrograd 
Soviet. 

In  front  of  the  institute  there  was  set  up 
a  large  statue  of  Karl  Marx.  It  looked  im- 
pressive enough  from  a  distance.  But  when 
I  passed  on  my  way  into  the  building  and 
looked  back  at  the  statue  I  discovered  Karl 
Marx — a  silk  hat  in  his  hand.  I  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  get  over  my  memory  of  the 
great  economist  standing  there,  heroically 
erect,  before  the  headquarters  of  the  work- 
ingmen's  government,  holding  a  silk  hat. 

In  Smolny  Institute  I  met  Zinovieff,  presi- 
dent of  the  Petrograd  Soviet,  a  curly-haired, 
impetuous  Jew,  full  of  energy  and  with  a 
deep  understanding  of  the  Russian  revolu- 
tionary movement.  He  has  been  a  life-long 
friend  of  Lenin  and  was  his  companion  in 
exile.  I  found  him  distrustful  at  first,  but 
very  cordial  when  convinced  that  my  inten- 
tions were  honest. 

**Do  you  still  talk  about  nationalization  of 
women  in  America?"  he  asked  me  with  a 
broad  grin.  He  was  the  only  official  in  Soviet 
Russia  who  ever  mentioned  the  subject  to  me. 

Later  in  the  day  I  attended  a  meeting  of 
the  Petrograd  Soviets  which  included  repre- 


90      **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA'» 

sentatives  of  all  unions,  army,  navy  and 
peasants.  They  were  assembled  in  the  Tau- 
ride  Palace,  where  the  Duma  met  formerly. 
A  decree  for  compulsory  education  for  adults 
was  under  consideration,  and  Zinovieif  spoke 
for  the  adoption  of  the  decree.  I  could  not, 
of  course,  understand  his  impassioned  ad- 
dress, which  subsequent  translation  revealed 
to  be  a  clear  analysis  of  the  whole  educa- 
tional problem.  He  has  a  high-pitched  voice, 
which  grated  on  my  ears  sometimes,  but  rang 
with  earnestness  and  conviction.  The  decree, 
which  is  now  in  effect,  was  passed  by  a  prac- 
tically unanimous  vote. 

It  provided  that  after  November  1,  1919, 
all  adults  of  the  Northern  Commune  unable 
to  read  and  write  would  have  to  attend  public 
school  classes  two  hours  daily  for  six  months, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  those  unable  to 
pass  the  examinations  were  to  be  denied  the 
right  to  work.  For  their  hours  of  study  the 
decree  provided  that  they  be  paid  wages  at 
the  rate  in  effect  in  their  branches  of  in- 
dustry. 

For  those  illiterates  in  occupations  requir- 
ing eight  hours  labor,  the  working  day  was 
reduced  to  six,  giving  them  the  opportunity 
to  spend  the  full  two  hours  in  school.  The 
six-hour  day  in  force  in  the  hazardous  occu- 
pations was  reduced  to  four  hours. 

Soviet  officials  informed  me  that  passage 
of  the  decree  did  not  mean  that  those  who 


'^BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA''      91 

were  unable  to  assimilate  knowledge  would 
be  denied  the  right  to  work.  That  disciplining 
would  be  invoked  only  for  those  capable  ones 
who  wilfully  refused  to  study.  The  measure 
was  but  one  of  the  efforts  of  the  Soviet  Gov- 
ernment to  hasten  the  development  of  the 
intellectual  side  of  the  people's  life  and  to 
raise  culture  in  general.  Under  Czars  there 
were  few  public  schools,  and  these  were  in- 
efficiently conducted.  Seventy-five  percent  of 
the  people  could  not  read  or  write. 

I  inquired  about  the  ''Eed  Terror"  in 
Petrograd.  "Yes,"  I  was  informed,  *' there 
were  two  or  three  days  of  Red  Terror  in 
August,  1918,  when  Lenin  was  shot,  in 
MoscoAV."  The  rank  and  file  w^ere  devoted 
to  this  man,  and  when  they  heard  of  the 
attempt  on  his  life  they  turned  loose,  and  it 
took  three  days  of  hard  work  on  the  part  of 
the  government  officials  and  the  government 
l^arty  members  to  stop  the  rush  of  the  mob. 
Probably  two  thousand  were  killed,  and  dur- 
ing the  six  weeks  that  Lenin  lay  between 
life  and  death  great  crowds  of  working  peo- 
ple watched  the  bulletins  from  his  physicians 
that  were  posted  on  walls  in  all  parts  of  the 
city  from  day  to  day.  I  was  told  that 
quite  aside  from  his  value  to  the  government 
itself,  it  was  a  godsend  to  Russia  that  he 
survived,  because  his  death  would  have  meant 
an  uprising  that  would  have  spared  no  human 
being  believed  to  be  in  opposition  to  Lenin 


92      ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

and  the  Soviet  Government.  Even  Zinovieff 
is  reported  to  have  lost  his  head  for  a  little 
time,  when  he  heard  of  the  precarious  con- 
dition of  his  old  friend  and  comrade. 

A  Russian  friend  of  mine  in  America  had 
asked  me  to  look  for  his  father  who  lived 
two  or  three  blocks  from  St.  Isaac's  Square 
when  last  heard  from  four  years  before. 

I  found  the  old  man  in  his  place  of  busi- 
ness— a  picture  frame  store.  He  lived  with 
his  wife  in  two  or  three  rooms  in  the  rear. 
He  had  been  in  business  for  years,  and  was 
one  of  the  bourgeoisie  of  the  olden  days. 
"Wlien  I  asked  him  if  he  had  been  disturbed 
by  the  Bolsheviki  he  said  that  during  the  two 
years  since  the  revolution  his  store  had  been 
^^sited  once  by  the  authorities — an  officer 
came  to  inquire  for  the  address  of  some  per- 
son living  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 

I  asked  him  how  he  liked  the  new  regime. 
"I  don't  like  it  because  food  is  scarce  and 
prices  high."  He  showed  me  a  small  picture 
frame.  "Before  the  war  I  could  sell  this  for 
70  kopecks,  now  I  must  charge  40  rubles, — 
but  then  maybe  it  was  the  war  and  not  the 
revolution  that  caused  the  high  prices, — I 
don't  know." 

He  took  me  down  the  street  three  blocks  to 
^'isit  his  daughter,  so  that  when  I  returned 
to  America  I  could  assure  my  friend  that  his 
sister,  too,  was  safe.  She  and  her  husband 
were  both  working  for  the   Soviet  Govern- 


*'BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      93 

ment  and  had.  but  one  complaint  to  make, 
*' scarcity  of  food."  She  was  a  teacher  in  one 
of  the  Soviet  schools.  They  had  two  beauti- 
ful boys ;  the  elder  was  studying  sculpture  in 
a  Soviet  art  school,  the  younger  was  still 
in  the  grades.  I  asked  this  most  intelligent 
and  refined  woman  whether  the  Bolshevists 
had  broken  up  the  homes  in  Petrograd.  She 
smiled  and  said,  ''Do  they  believe  that  in 
America?"  When  I  had  to  answer  that 
''some  do,"  she  replied,  "Please  tell  them  it 
does  not  show  intelligence  to  believe  such 
things." 

I  talked  to  three  or  four  of  the  business 
men  along  the  Nevsky  Prospekt  who  were  still 
clinging  to  their  little  shops,  with  their  piti- 
ful stocks  of  goods.  These  people  have  re- 
mained undisturbed  for  reasons  I  have  al- 
ready explained.  In  substance  they  all  said 
the  same  thing:  "It  is  terrible, — terrible. 
Before  long  we  must  quit  business.  The  Bol- 
shevists are  setting  up  what  they  call  'Soviet' 
stores.  The  people  don't  come  to  us  now, — 
only  a  few  of  our  old  customers.  The  Soviet 
stores  control  the  products  and  undersell  us. 
Russia  is  doomed.  We  want  to  go  away. 
How  is  it  in  America?" 

The  last  cry  of  the  private  shopkeeper  in 
Russia !  Some  day  when  the  war  is  over  and 
Russia  is  doing  business  with  the  rest  of  the 
world,  these  same  shopkeepers  will  probably 
find  the  Soviet  stores  more  attractive  even 


94      "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

than  their  own.  They  may  remember,  with 
no  regret,  their  constant  struggle  to  survive 
competition.  Doubtless  they  will  get  behind 
the  counters  of  the  Soviet  stores,  as  many  of 
their  kind  have  already  done,  and  there  find 
security  of  employment  and  compensation, 
and  in  the  knowledge  that  they  are  rendering 
a  real  service  to  the  New  Eussia  they  will  find 
an  adequate  substitute  for  the  stimulation  of 
*' private  enterprise." 

With  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Moscow, 
the  sending  of  thousands  of  workers  to  the 
army,  the  voluntary  emigration  to  the  vil- 
lages of  thousands  of  others,  and  the  exodus 
of  the  bourgeoisie  to  Scandinavia,  France, 
England  and  even  America,  Petrograd  has 
probably  one  half  the  population  it  had  under 
the  Czar.  Moscow  had  gained,  however,  dur- 
ing the  same  period  in  greater  proportion 
than  Petrograd  lost. 

Tram  cars  were  running  more  regularly 
than  in  Moscow,  so  far  as  I  could  observe. 
The  streets  were  poorly  lighted,  as  in  Moscow, 
and  for  the  same  reason.  All  automobiles 
had  been  requisitioned  by  the  army  and  were 
used  mostly  for  trucking.  The  city  was 
policed  by  women  in  daytime,  by  men  at 
night.  It  was  rather  startling  to  encounter 
a  woman  policeman  with  a  rifle  on  her 
shoulder,  but  the  people  took  it  for  granted, 
and  I  was  told  that  the  women  were  quite 
as  efficient  as  the  men.     In  spite  of  poor 


CHICHERIN 
Commissar  of  Foreign  Affairs 


'^BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      95 

lighting,  Petrograd  is  as  safe  as  Moscow  at 
night —  or  as  safe  as  New  York  or  Chicago, 
for  that  matter.  Prostitution  has  lost  its 
clientele.  Thousands  of  women  from  the 
streets  have  found  decent  employment  in 
various  institutions  of  the  Soviet  Govermnent, 
and  are  able  to  lead  independent,  normal 
lives. 

I  visited  one  of  the  large  textile  industries, 
which  was  in  full  operation,  employing  prob- 
ably three  thousand  men  and  women.  They 
were  making  civilian  suits  and  overcoats  and 
winter  coats  for  the  soldiers.  Motor  lorries 
drove  up  and  carried  away  thousands  of 
these  winter  coats  for  shipment  to  the  sol- 
diers at  the  front. 

Some  of  the  factories  were  closing  down 
through  lack  of  fuel.  I  asked  what  would 
become  of  the  workers  who  were  thrown  out 
of  employment,  and  was  told  that  pending 
their  re-employment  they  would  be  given 
**out  of  work"  cards  showing  that  their  idle- 
ness was  not  voluntary,  and  the  government 
would  continue  to  pay  them  their  regular 
wages. 

I  visited  Maxim  Gorky  in  his  modest  apart- 
ment near  the  Fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul. 
Gorky  is  typical  of  a  large  class  of  the  in- 
tellectuals. Two  years  ago  he  was  a  bitter 
opponent  of  Bolshevism,  and  his  writings 
violently  attacked  the  government. 

Of  artistic  rather  than  political  tempera- 


96      "BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

ment,  and  strongly  pacifist,  he  was  sickened 
by  the  killing  on  both  sides.  Since  then, 
however,  he  has  come  to  the  support  of  the 
Soviet  Government.  His  tribute  to  the  con- 
structive ability  of  the  Soviet  leaders  was 
issued  over  his  signature  a  year  ago,  and  has 
been  widely  circulated. 

I  had  been  told  that  Maxim  Gorky  was 
suffering  from  tuberculosis,  and  after  aU  the 
misery  I  had  seen  in  Soviet  Russia  because 
of  the  lack  of  food,  I  expected  to  find  him 
emaciated.  Instead,  he  was  vigorous  and 
healthy.  He  stood  before  me  tall,  powerful, 
with  a  slight  bend  in  his  shoulders.  He 
seemed  with  his  mass  of  gray  hair  like  some 
huge  and  fearless  animal. 

There  was  sadness  in  his  voice  and  his 
gray  eyes  when  he  spoke  of  Russia's  suffer- 
ing. Gorky  himself  was  a  child  of  the  streets, 
and  he  feels  keenly  the  suffering  of  the 
people. 

But  it  was  when  he  spoke  of  the  future  of 
his  country  that  he  was  the  true  Russian. 
He  told  me  he  believed  in  the  invincible  spirit 
of  the  Russian  masses  and  their  determina- 
tion to  defend  ^' their  revolution."  He  dwelt 
with  pride  upon  the  accomplishments  of  in- 
dividual workers,  whose  native  genius  had 
been  set  free  from  the  old  bondage.  I  was 
surprised  to  find  the  interest  he  took  in  the 
industries.  In  one  factory  just  outside  of 
Petrograd,  he  told  me,  they  were  extracting 


''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"      97 

sugar  frojn  the  sawdust  of  certain  woods  by 
a  process  discovered  by  a  workman.  With 
equal  enthusiasm  he  told  me  of  another 
worker  who  had  perfected  a  method  of  pre- 
serving fish  nets  so  that  their  durability  had 
been  increased  four  hundred  percent. 

He  told  me  a  manifesto  would  soon  be 
issued  to  the  world,  coming  from  a  number 
of  Russian  scientists  of  established  reputa- 
tion, setting  forth  the  scientific  achievements 
accomplished  under  Soviet  rule. 

"Under  two  years  of  Soviet  rule,"  Gorky 
said,  ''there  have  been  more  discoveries  made 
in  Russia  and  there  has  been  more  progress 
in  general  than  previously  in  twenty  years 
under  Czarism." 

The  greatest  joy  that  Gorky  finds  in  his 
work  for  the  Soviet  Government  is  in  the 
tremendous  task  of  preserving  the  art  of  old 
Russia  and  creating  new  art.  Even  in  the 
throes  of  the  revolution  when  Gorky  opposed 
the  Bolshevik  rule,  he  was  working  with  the 
government  to  preserve  the  old  art. 

Under  his  direction  a  museum  was  estab- 
lished in  a  fine  structure,  wherein  were  stored 
thousands  of  art  treasures  recovered  during 
the  revolution.  Bourgeoisie  who  fled  to  other 
countries  left  their  unoccupied  homes  full  of 
beautiful  things.  The  Soviet  Government 
took  possession  of  these  homes  at  once  and 
removed  valuable  art  to  the  museum.  Man- 
ifestos were  sent  broadcast  appealing  to  the 


98      ''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

people  to  preserve  these  things  which  were 
now  theirs.  In  Petrograd  the  following  bul- 
letin, under  the  title  "Appeal  for  the  Preser- 
vation of  Works  of  Art,"  appeared: 

"Citizens!  The  old  landlords  have  gone. 
Behind  them  remains  a  tremendous  inher- 
itance. Now  it  belongs  to  the  whole  people. 
Guard  this  inheritance;  take  care  of  the 
palaces.  They  will  stand  as  the  palaces  of 
the  art  of  the  whole  people.  Preserve  the 
pictures,  the  statues,  the  buildings — ^these  are 
a  concentration  of  the  spiritual  force  of  your- 
selves and  of  your  forefathers.  Art  is  that 
beauty  which  men  of  talent  have  been  able 
to  create  even  under  the  lash  of  despotism. 
Do  not  touch  a  single  stone,  safeguard  monu- 
ments, buildings,  ancient  things,  and  docu- 
ments. All  these  are  your  history,  your 
pride." 

"But  it  was  impossible  to  save  everything," 
Gorky  told  me.  "There  were  the  soldiers 
and  the  peasants,  who  had  never  had  a  chance 
to  see  any  of  these  beautiful  things  in  the 
past.  The  people  did  not  wish  to  destroy 
these  things.  They  only  threw  away  what 
seemed  worthless  to  them,  one  priceless 
painting  was  found  in  a  garbage  can.  But 
it  was  found  and  brought  back  by  the  people 
themselves.  And  now  it  is  in  the  museum 
where  every  one  may  see  it." 

Gorky  is  head  of  the  "World  Literature 
Publishing   House,"   a    vast   institution   or- 


«*BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"      99 

ganized  by  the  Soviet  Government  to  pub- 
lish the  best  literary  and  scientific  produc- 
tions of  all  countries  in  popular  editions  for 
the  Russian  masses.  A  great  staff  of  literarj^ 
and  professional  men  and  women  are  enrolled 
in  this  work.  Already  about  six  hundred 
books  have  been  edited  and  are  ready  for 
publication,  although  only  thirty  volumes  had 
been  printed  when  the  work  had  to  stop  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  paper.  As  soon  as  paper 
is  available  they  hope  to  begin  printing  mil- 
lions of  volumes  in  editions  which  will  be 
witliin  the  reach  of  all  the  Russian  people. 

In  addition  to  this  work  Gorky  has  been 
devoting  much  time  to  the  preparation  of  a 
series  of  motion-picture  scenarios,  composed 
with  scientific  historical  exactness,  showing 
the  history  of  man  from  the  Stone  Age  down 
through  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  time  of 
Louis  XVI  of  France,  and  finally  to  the 
present  day.  This  work  was  begun  in  July 
1919,  and  when  I  talked  with  Gorky  in  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year,  he  told  me  that  they 
had  already  finished  twenty-five  scenarios. 
He  described  the  extraordinary  difficulties 
under  which  the  work  was  going  forward; 
the  actors  and  actresses  who  were  often  un- 
dernourished, persevered  over  all  obstacles, 
inspired  by  an  enthusiasm  which  Gorky 
thought  would  have  been  impossible  in  any 
other  country.  The  Soviet  Government  was 
aiding  the  production  in  every  way.    The  best 


100    "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

actors  and  actresses  in  the  country  had  been 
enlisted  in  this  work  along  with  historians 
and  scientists.  The  films  were  being  sent  iato 
the  remote  towns  and  villages,  and  thousands 
of  small  theatres  already  were  being  built. 

The  motion  picture  theatres  in  general  in 
Petrograd  were  not  showing  the  ordinary 
romances  that  we  see  in  this  country  in  films. 
The  motion  picture  was  used  largely  for  edu- 
cating the  people  and  showing  the  develop- 
ment of  industry,  the  proper  care  of  children 
and  the  advantages  of  sanitary  conditions. 
Eussia  is  in  great  need  of  education  so  far 
as  sanitation  is  concerned.  In  the  large  cities 
the  sanitation  is  modern,  but  in  smaller  towns 
and  in  the  villages  the  people  have  no  idea  of 
a  sewage  system. 

The  theatre  of  Soviet  Russia  had  already 
been  organized  throughout  the  country  at  the 
time  of  my  visit.  The  production  of  plays 
and  scenarios  was  included  in  the  educational 
program  of  the  government.  The  theatres 
were  organized  into  one  corporation  and  sub- 
sidized by  the  Soviet  Government,  which  did 
not,  however,  interfere  in  any  way  with  the 
artistic  work  of  the  producers.  I  saw 
Schiller's  ''Robbers"  and  Gorky's  ''Lower 
Depths"  produced  wonderfully.  The  people 
crowded  to  the  theatres.  The  first  four  per- 
formances each  week  are  set  aside  for  the 
Soviet  workers. 

Gorky  assured  me  that  the  elements  op- 


'*BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"    101 

posed  to  Soviet  rule  ''do  not  find  any  support 
among  the  rank  and  file.  The  working  class 
strongly  supports  the  Soviets,  and  most  of 
the  peasants  approve,  although  the  village 
youth  is  still  indifferent." 

The  Jewish  people  were  playing  an  import- 
ant part  in  the  revolutionary  reconstruction 
of  the  country,  Gorky  said,  but  added  that  he 
did  not  mean  the  class  of  Jews  who  had  been 
influential  in  the  old  regime.  The  Jews  who 
had  come  forward  under  the  revolution  were 
the  ones  who  had  formerly  been  kept  within 
the  pale.  They  felt  that  a  new  freedom  had 
been  offered  them  by  the  Soviet  Government, 
that  they  would  be  treated  as  brothers,  and 
so  they  were  rendering  valuable  constructive 
service. 

*'If  they  would  only  leave  us  alone,"  he 
cried  out  bitterly.  "Tell  America  for  the 
sake  of  humanity  to  leave  Russia  alone." 
His  words  fairly  burned  as  he  sat  there  and 
talked,  emphasizing  each  phrase  with  a  ges- 
ture of  his  clenched  fists.  "Tell  them  to  leave 
us  alone.  I  know  quite  well  that  there  are 
many  persons  in  America  who  have  no  vision 
of  this  Russia,  who  have  no  comprehension 
of  what  Russia  is.  But  after  all,  you  have 
a  few  enlightened  people  in  America.  Please 
tell  them  that  Russia  is  not  Central  Africa, 
without  civilization  or  statesmanship.  Russia 
is  well  able  to  take  care  of  herself." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BOLSHEVIK  LEADERS— BRIEF  SKETCHES 
TROTZKY 

ALMOST  inseparable  from  the  name  of 
^  Lenin,  in  the  minds  of  Americans,  is 
that  of  Trotzk}^,  Minister  of  War,  whose  his- 
tory is  well  known  here.  He  was  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  up  to  the  time  of  the 
signing  of  the  Brest-Litovsk  Treaty,  when  it 
became  necessary  to  mobilize  an  army  to 
protect  Soviet  Russia  from  foreign  invasion, 
and  he  was  made  Minister  of  War.  He  took 
hold  of  a  badly  disorganized  and  worse  dis- 
couraged army,  and  through  his  own  hard 
work,  and  with  the  assistance  of  others,  built 
up  an  army  probably  better  than  any  other 
in  the  world  today. 

While  in  Moscow  I  heard  him  address  a 
gathering  of  some  two  thousand  women,  in 
the  Labor  Temple— formerly  a  noblemen's 
club.  He  had  just  returned  from  the  front, 
and  was  still  wearing  his  suit  of  plain  khaki 
and  high  boots.  He  reviewed  the  work  of  the 
Eed  Army,  recounting  its  victories  and 
defeats. 

A  well-set  figure,  with  black  eyes  flashing 
through  a  pair  of  thick  glasses;  a  wealth  of 

102 


LITVINOFP 
Assistant    Commissar    of   Foreign    Affairs 


"BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     103 

jet  black  hair  brushed  back  from  a  high  fore- 
head; dark  moustache  and  small  beard;  his 
whole  face  tanned  from  being  in  the  open 
with  the  troops,  he  paced  the  platform  from 
one  end  to  the  other,  like  a  caged  lion. 
When  he  spoke  of  the  counter-revolutionary 
forces  his  voice  resounded  through  the  hall, 
filled  w^ith  scorn,  and  his  face  wore  a  look 
that  was  uncanny.  The  next  moment  his  ex- 
pression changed,  and  lowering  his  voice  he 
spoke  in  soothing  tones  of  the  heroism  and 
devotion  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Red  Army. 

I  could  understand  at  the  end  of  his  forty 
minutes'  address  w^hat  Colonel  Raymond 
Robins  meant  when  he  said:  "Trotzky  is  a 
great  orator."  He  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
convincing  I  have  ever  heard,  and  I  have 
heard  many  in  several  countries.  He  seems 
to  tug  at  his  listeners  until  they  find  them- 
selves leaning  forward  so  as  not  to  miss  a 
single  word.  The  history  of  this  man's  life 
and  activities  would  make  an  interesting 
book.    I  hope  it  will  be  written. 

CHICHERIN" 

As  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Trotzky 
was  succeeded  by  Chicherin.  He  is  a  tall, 
slightly  stooped  figure,  about  fifty  years  old, 
with  eyes  that  burn  like  coals.  He  is  emaci- 
ated from  hunger  and  from  hard  work. 
Never  a  day  goes  by  but  Chicherin  can  be 
found  in  his  of&ce  from  twelve  to  sixteen 


104     ''BAKBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

hours  of  the  time,  working  with  quiet  deter- 
mination and  zeal.  I  saw  him  in  his  office 
at  the  Metropole  two  or  three  times,  and  was 
captivated  by  his  kind  and  gentle  manner. 

*'Yes,"  he  said  to  me,  *'we  want  peace  and 
are  ready  to  conclude  at  once.  Concessions 
are  still  here  for  American  capital.  Leases 
can  be  had  for  forty-nine  years.  All  we  ask 
is  that  the  Russian  labor  laws  shall  prevail 
here  and  the  Government  shall  not  be  inter- 
fered with.  There  is  flax  here,  and  timber 
and  many  other  things  that  the  people  of 
your  coimtry  want. 

**Go  back  to  America  and  tell  them  to  leave 
us  alone.  Just  let  us  get  our  breath  and 
turn  our  energies  into  productive  work." 

They  all  said  that,  Chicherin  and  many 
other  Commissars.  All  dwelt  upon  the  need 
for  technical  assistance.  They  look  for- 
ward to  the  day  when  they  will  be  able  to 
apply  the  best  technical  and  scientific  experi- 
ence of  the  world  to  the  solution  of  their 
problems.  They  need  experts  in  all  lines  and 
of  all  grades,  from  simple  mechanicians  to 
the  most  highly  trained  laboratory  specialists. 

LIT\T:NOrF 

Litvinoff  is  a  solidly  built,  jovial,  and  very 
astute  Lithuanian.  He  was  one  of  the  Col- 
legium in  the  foreign  office  under  Chicherin, 
and  was  the  Soviet  ambassador  in  England 
after  the  revolution.    Later  he  was  sent  back 


*^BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     105 

to  Russia  by  the  British  Government.  He  is 
an  equally  shrewd  business  man  and  diplo- 
mat, and  looks  more  like  a  British  member 
of  parliament  than  a  Russian  Bolshevik.  He 
has  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  fun,  but  takes 
his  duties  very  seriously.  He  is  the  type  of 
man  often  seen  .among  directors  of  great  en- 
terprises in  America,  putting  through  *'big 
deals."  One  imagines  that  if  he  chose  to  sell 
his  services  to  a  capitalist  organization  or 
state  he  could  easily  become  a  *'big  man." 

He  was  my  first  host  in  Moscow,  and  was 
very  kind  and  helpful  in  giving  me  all  the 
information  and  assistance  possible. 

MADAME  KOLLONTAY 

I  met  Madame  Kollontay  in  the  National 
Hotel,  three  or  four  days  after  I  arrived  in 
Moscow.  She  is  a  beautiful,  cultured  woman, 
and  an  excellent  speaker.  She  had  just  re- 
turned from  a  tour  of  the  southern  part  of 
Russia,  where  she  had  been  establishing 
schools  and  organizing  homes  for  the  aged, 
and  informed  me  that  the  children  are  so 
enthusiastic  that  they  do  not  want  to  go  home 
when  the  day's  session  is  over.  *^ There  is  a 
feeling  of  solidarity  among  them,"  she  said. 
*^They  are  being  educated  without  the  feel- 
ing of  property  of  any  kind.  The  psy- 
chology of  the  people  has  so  changed  since  the 
revolution  that  the  old  order  could  not  last 
even  if  it  were  to  be  restored,"  she  said  "and 


106     ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

if  the  Allies  would  only  withdraw  their  armies 
and  stop  supporting  the  counter-revolution- 
aiy  forces  Russia  could  recoup  herself  with- 
out outside  aid  of  any  kind. " 

Asked  about  the  devotion  of  the  people  to 
I/enin  she  replied  that  while  he  was  deeply 
loved  and  respected  the  people  were  not  fol- 
lowing him  blindty,  and  that  their  devotion 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  realized  that 
he  stood  always  for  their  best  interests. 

Madame  Kollontay  has  spent  several  years 
in  America  and  asked  me  about  many  of  her 
friends  in  this  country.  She  said  she  hoped 
to  be  able  to  return  at  some  future  time. 

MADAME    BALABANOVA 

Madame  Balabanova,  secretary  of  the 
Third  International,  which  has  headquarters 
at  Moscow,  is  an  Italian,  not  over  five  feet 
tall,  elderly,  but  full  of  fire  and  spirit.  She 
speaks  many  languages,  including  fluent  Eng- 
lish. I  met  her  on  several  occasions  in  Mos- 
cow. She  reminded  me  that  there  was 
much  work  to  be  done,  and  that  the  revolu- 
tion had  not  ended  with  the  overthrowing  of 
the  old  order.  ^'We  are  building  the  new 
society,"  she  said,  *'but  it  is  slow  work  be- 
cause of  the  necessity  of  converting  the  coun- 
try into  an  armed  camp  to  repel  invasion, 
but  when  the  war  stops  we  will  show  tKe 
world  what  Soviet  rule  can  do  for  the  op- 
pressed." 


*'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     107 

She  said  she  hoped  to  go  back  to  Italy 
sometime,  but  presumed  it  would  be  impos- 
sible, at  least  until  that  and  other  countries 
had  recognized  that  the  Russians  and  those 
in  sympathy  with  them  were  human  beings 
and  not  *' carriers  of  contagion." 

She  is  a  wonderful  speaker  and  an  ex- 
tremely energetic  and  hard  working  little 
woman,  much  admired  and  respected  by  her 
colleagues. 

I  once  accompanied  her  on  a  visit  to  a  hos- 
pital, where  she  spoke  to  wounded  soldiers. 
More  than  two  hundred  convalescent  soldiers 
made  up  her  audience.  They  lay  on  their 
cots  or  sat  in  wheel-chairs,  some  of  them 
armless  or  with  but  one  arm,  others  with  one 
leg  shot  oi¥,  and  many  with  ugly  head  wounds. 
They  greeted  Madame  Balabanova  cheerily, 
and  listened  almost  eagerly  to  her  story  of 
what  was  going  on  at  the  front  and  in  the 
country  generally.  When  she  had  finished 
her  address  there  was  a  silence,  and  then 
from  all  the  men  came  the  deep  singing  of 
the  Internationale. 

BUCHARIN 

Bucharin,  a  close  friend  and  companion  of 
Lenin,  is  the  editor  of  Pravda,  the  party 
organ  in  Moscow.  I  learned  that  he,  too,  had 
been  in  America  for  two  or  three  months 
previous  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Czar,  and 
had  hurried  back  when  this  news  reached 


108    **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

iiim.  He  is  a  small  figure,  always  hurrying 
somewhere,  with  a  book  imder  his  arm.  One 
meets  him  in  the  Theater  Square  in  the  morn- 
ing, in  Soviet  Square  a  few  hours  later,  at 
the  Kremlin  still  later,  and  in  the  evening 
at  the  extreme  opposite  end  of  the  city. 
There  is  a  saying  about  him,  *'One  can  never 
tell  where  he  will  turn  up  next.  He  is  always 
on  the  move."  And  yet  he  always  has  time 
for  a  kindly  word  or  question  or  greeting. 
He  is  a  student  of  history  and  quotes  freely, 
from  memory,  all  the  Kussian  and  many 
European  writers. 

GEORGE   MELCHOIR 

George  Melchoir  is  president  of  the  Mos- 
cow Central  Federation  of  All-Russian  Pro- 
fessional Alliances.  He  worked  for  a  long 
time  at  Bayonne,  New  Jersey,  but  like  many 
others  returned  to  Russia  after  the  overthrow 
of  the  Czar.  He  took  an  active  part  in  or- 
ganizing the  taking  of  Moscow  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Bolshevist  uprising. 

Melchoir  has  been  a  working  man  all  his 
life,  and  is  extremely  intelligent.  The  posi- 
tion which  he  holds  demands  a  great  deal  of 
technical  knowledge,  as  well  as  executive  abil- 
ity, and  every  one  agreed  that  he  was  thor- 
oughly qualified  for  his  post.  I  had  a  long 
talk  with  him.  He  was  enthusiastic  about 
the   future   of   Russia.     It   would   be  built 


**BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  KUSSIA"     109 

up,  he  said,  by  the  various  unions  and  peas- 
ant organizations. 

He  is  probably  thirty-five  years  of  age,  of 
medium  height,  with  a  bulky  figure,  full  of 
vigor  and  enthusiasm. 

PETERS 

In  the  early  days  of  the  revolution  Peters 
was  chief  of  the  Internal  Defense  of  Petro- 
grad.  American  newspapers  said  of  him  that 
*'his  fingers  were  cramped  from  writing 
death  warrants."  I  asked  him  how  many 
death  warrants  he  had  signed  and  he  told 
me  three  hundred  in  all.  He  expressed  regret 
that  he  had  been  looked  upon  in  other  coun- 
tries as  a  murderer,  and  said  it  was  unfortu- 
nate that  those  people  did  not  understand  the 
conditions  that  surrounded  Russia  while  in 
the  throes  of  a  revolution.  He  insisted  that 
the  warrants  he  had  signed  had  been  neces- 
sary in  the  interest  of  the  country  as  a  whole, 
and  that  they  had  been  signed  only  after  in- 
vestigation and  a  trial  of  the  individuals,  and 
that  in  no  case  had  there  been  an  execution 
to  gratify  the  personal  revenge  of  any  one. 

He  is  a  Lett,  very  young,  perhaps  between 
twenty-eight  and  thirty  years  old,  short  and 
stocky,  with  a  mass  of  black  hair  combed 
straight  back.  He  lived  in  England  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  speaks  the  English  lan- 
guage easily  and  fluently. 


no    *'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA»' 

BORIS    EEINSTEIN 

As  a  former  resident  of  Buffalo,  New  York, 
and  member  of  the  American  Socialist  Labor 
Party,  Boris  Reinstein  returned  to  Russia 
after  the  overthrow  of  the  Czar.  He  was  for 
some  time  an  assistant  in  the  Foreign  Office; 
later  a  lecturer  in  a  military  school,  and  is 
now  an  official  lecturer  in  the  large  college 
for  training  writers  and  speakers  in  Moscow. 
This  school  was  running  full  blast  while  I 
was  there.  Classes  number  from  seventy-five 
to  one  hundred  each.  Pupils  are  elected  by 
various  Soviet  organizations  over  the  country, 
and  at  the  end  of  six  months'  training  are  re- 
turned to  their  various  communities  and  oth- 
ers are  sent  into  their  places.  The  Govern- 
ment suppoi-ts  all  these  pupils  while  they  are 
in  training. 

Reinstein  is  an  excellent  speaker  and  a 
tireless  worker,  and  is  one  of  the  kindest  and 
most  conscientious  men  I  have  ever  met.  He 
is  certainly  not  the  "wild-eyed  agitator"  he 
has  been  pictured  in  the  American  press.  He 
has  given  valuable  service  to  the  revolution, 
though  he  has  lost  twenty-five  pounds  in 
doing  so. 

**bill"  shatoff 

**Biir'  Shatoff,  described  by  American  pa- 
pers as  *'the  well-known  anarchist,"  is  one  of 
the  officials  of  the  Soviet  Army.  When  I  was 
in  Petrograd  he  was  the  commander  of  the 


^^^^^K^Sl 

1 

■j 

1 

i 

^^^^k^LnM^S 

Bi 

^^^^^^H^^^^^sHM 

i' 

^^^^^^^^^^v '  ^^^^H^H| 

m'^p    . 

1 

H 

^^HhH 

1 

^M 

1—  -c 
O  -E 
O    t 


%^ 


**BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     111 

Petrograd  front.  He  is  a  big  jolly  Russian 
Jew,  and  certainly  does  not  look  any  the 
worse  for  his  participation  in  Soviet  warfare, 
nor  for  the  stinted  rations  he  has  shared  with 
his  men. 


CHAPTER  IX 
WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN 

THE  Education  of  the  children  occupies 
as  important  a  place  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Soviet  Government  as  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Red  Army.  The  Budget  for 
education  and  child  welfare  is  unstinted,  and 
at  every  turn  one  encounters  evidence  of  ac- 
tual accomplishment  in  the  interest  of  the 
growing  generation.  ^' First  we  must  defend 
the  workers'  state  against  its  enemies,''  said  a 
Commissar  to  me,  ''then  we  must  prepare  the 
coming  generation  to  carry  on  and  develop 
the  state  won  for  them  by  the  Red  Army." 

In  the  two  years  of  the  revolution  10,000 
new  schools  had  been  opened.  There  were  but 
few  children  in  Soviet  Russia  who  are  not  at- 
tending classes  in  grades  from  kindergarten 
to  high  school.  I  saw  few  children  idling  in- 
doors or  out  during  school  hours,  nor  did  I 
see  any  at  work  in  the  factories.  They  troop 
out  from  the  schools  in  great  bands  into  the 
parks  at  recess  hour.  Teachers  complained  to 
me  of  the  lack  of  text-books,  due  to  the  scar- 
city of  paper.  They  resented  bitterly,  too,  the 
necessity  of  assembling  their  charges  in  cold 
class-rooms. 

But  in  spite  of  meagre  facilities,  every 
one  connected  with  the  government  worked 

112 


"BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     113 

hard  to  make  every  possible  provision  for 
the  care  and  protection  of  the  children.  The 
government  was  feeding  359,000  children 
daily  in  the  schools  in  Moscow,  and  200,000 
in  Petrograd.  The  most  nourishing  food  ob- 
tainable was  requisitioned  for  the  children. 
Milk,  butter  and  eggs  went  first  to  hospitals 
and  to  the  school  restaurants,  where  the  chil- 
dren were  provided  with  food  free.  Only 
when  there  was  an  extra  supply  were  healthy 
adults  permitted  to  purchase  these  foods. 

I  used  to  watch  the  children,  happy,  robust 
little  folk,  going  from  their  class-rooms  in 
great  crowds  to  the  restaurants,  where  they 
sat  in  rows  at  the  long  tables.  The  noon 
recess  lasted  for  two  hours — one  hour  for 
eating  and  one  for  play.  The  children  were 
chaperoned  by  their  teachers,  of  whom  there 
were  two  for  each  roomful  of  pupils.  One 
looked  after  the  mental  studies,  while  the 
other  directed  their  physical  training. 

The  children  of  kindergarten  age  were 
called  for  in  the  mornings  by  their  teachers, 
and  were  brought  home  by  them  at  about 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  At  least  ninety- 
five  percent  of  the  teachers  were  women,  and 
they  had  all  received  special  training  for 
their  profession. 

The  Soviet  law  prohibits  the  employment 
of  children  under  sixteen  years,  except  in 
cases  of  greatest  necessity.  Child  labor  un- 
der   fourteen    is    forbidden.      Children    be- 


114     "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

tween  fourteen  and  eighteen  permitted  to  en- 
ter certain  industries  are  not  allowed  to  work 
more  than  four  hours  a  day ;  between  sixteen 
and  eighteen  they  may  work  not  more  than 
six  hours  daily,  and  all  must  spend  two  hours 
in  school. 

With  much  of  the  work  of  preparing  meals 
and  the  care  of  children  of  school  age  taken 
away  from  them,  the  women  of  Russia  were 
enjoying  a  new  freedom.  They  had  found 
themselves  suddenly  with  time  to  work  away 
from  home.  They  rushed  into  industry  and 
the  professions  and  set  to  work  with  an  ardor 
and  enthusiasm  that  has  done  much  to  estab- 
lish the  Soviet  system. 

"Women  conductors  were  employed  on  the 
street-cars  in  all  the  cities  in  the  daytime, 
men  being  employed  only  at  night.  Women 
police  also  were  employed,  and  no  one  seemed 
to  think  this  extraordinary. 

Housekeepers  were  accorded  the  same  right 
to  vote  as  factory  workers.  If  a  married 
woman  had  a  desire  to  work  elsewhere  than 
in  her  home  she  did  so,  and  took  her  meals 
mth  her  husband  and  friends  in  a  Soviet 
restaurant.  Women  shared  in  the  discussions 
in  the  Soviet,  and  were  elected  to  offices. 
Far  from  being  *' nationalized,"  women  were 
accorded  the  same  respect  and  treatment  as 
men. 

The  right  of  inheritance  has  been  abol- 
ished,  although  dependents   such  as  minors 


''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     115 

unable  to  work,  or  invalids,  are  supported 
out  of  the  property  of  the  deceased  former 
owner,  and  no  discrimination  is  made  against 
children  born  out  of  wedlock. 

The  government  recognizes  only  civil  mar- 
riages, but  an  additional  religious  ceremony 
is  optional  with  the  contracting  parties  and 
is  not  restricted  in  any  way  by  the  govern- 
ment. An  oral  or  written  statement  of  the 
parties  desiring  to  contract  the  marriage  is 
required  by  the  nearest  Department  of  Regis- 
tration. Boys  under  eighteen  and  girls  under 
sixteen  are  prohibited  from  marrying,  and 
the  laws  of  consanguinity  in  force  in  other 
countries  are  observed  in  Russia  also.  Births 
must  be  registered  in  the  Department  of 
Registration  nearest  the  mother's  residence, 
and  children  born  out  of  wedlock  have  the 
same  status  as  those  born  of  a  registered 
imion. 

Divorces  are  granted  on  the  petition  of 
either  or  both  parties.  When  the  petition  is 
mutual  the  persons  are  obliged  to  state  what 
surnames  the  children  of  the  marriage  are 
expected  to  bear  in  future.  In  case  only 
one  party  petitions,  the  surname  of  the  chil- 
dren and  the  responsibility  for  maintenance 
are  decided  by  the  judge. 

In  Moscow  I  visited  a  lying-in  hospital 
under  the  Division  of  Motherhood  and  In- 
fants, of  the  Department  of  Social  Welfare. 
This  was  one  of  many  similar  institutions 
this  department  had  established  in  all  the 


116     ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

large  and  many  of  the  small  cities.  Here 
the  working  women  receive  care  and  nour- 
ishment without  cost  for  several  weeks 
before  and  after  child-birth.  They  have  the 
best  food  and  medical  treatment  obtainable, 
and  are  paid  their  full  wages  during  the  time 
they  are  out  of  their  accustomed  emplojnnent. 
In  connection  with  this  hospital  in  Moscow, 
which  was  established  in  an  imposing  white 
stone  structure  formerly  an  elite  finishing 
school  where  the  daughters  of  the  rich  learned 
French  and  the  gentle  arts,  there  was  a 
training  college  where  five  hundred  young 
women,  chosen  by  various  trade  and  peasant 
organizations  throughout  the  country,  were 
attending  a  six  months '  course  of  lectures  and 
practical  demonstrations  on  obstetrics  and  the 
care  of  children.  Already  three  classes  of 
five  hundred  each  had  been  graduated  and 
sent  back  to  their  respective  communities  to 
apply  their  experience  and  to  train  others. 

Moving  pictures  were  shown  daily,  por- 
traying to  the  mothers  the  best  methods  of 
bathing,  dressing,  and  caring  for  their  in- 
fants, and  these  were  supplemented  with  lec- 
tures. Older  children  of  working  mothers 
were  cared  for  during  the  day  in  government 
nurseries,  where  they  were  given  the  best 
possible  care  and  attention. 

The  following  is  a  table  showing  the  record 
of  the  accomplishments  in  this  department  in 
the  year  1919. 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     117 


05 


3 


5  .g 


^ 
^ 


B  2 


J2   "O 


^    ii    n 
J.U  g 

°     u 


O)      O      Ui 

E-§2 


02 

1—1 
H 

I— I 
O 


O    rH 


"«1<   tH 


rH  CJ  iH  (M   '^ 


t-   (M   C<J 


•^THC3rH<MrH(M'* 


M    rH 


rH    rH 


CO    M    C^    CO 


■^   rH    (M   Ol 


rHCOb-rHrJIrHrH      IrH 


<^>rH(MrHrHrHrHCOOSiMrHrHrH      IrH 


^ 


> 

O        EC 


N 


O 

H 


^  ."  .<5  >  ^  ^  .=  >  ^  a  3  ir  § 


118     ^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

More  than  2,500  libraries  had  been  estab- 
lished throughout  the  country  since  the  rev- 
olution. All  the  larger  towns  have  their  high 
schools,  technical  schools,  and  musical  con- 
servatories. 

As  every  able-bodied  adult  must  work  in 
Soviet  Russia,  I  wondered  who  went  to  the 
advanced  technical  schools.  Each  local  Soviet 
elected  its  group  of  students  to  attend  schools 
for  special  training  for  terms  varying  from 
three  to  six  months.  At  the  end  of  the  train- 
ing the  students  returned  to  their  communi- 
ties to  teach,  and  a  new  group  was  sent  for 
similar  training.  The  schools  were  free;  the 
students  were  furnished  with  food,  clothing, 
living  quarters  and  books,  and  were  provided 
with  tickets  for  theatres,  concerts  and  other 
entertainments.  All  students  were  granted 
loans,  to  be  used  for  spending  money  while  in 
school,  if  they  preferred  to  purchase  their  o^vn 
clothing  and  other  necessaries.  In  Moscow 
the  average  loan  was  1,200  rubles,  varying 
'  according  to  the  rise  or  fall  of  the  ruble's 
value. 

Throughout  the  country  homes  for  the  aged 
had  been  established  where  men  over  sixty 
and  women  over  fifty  w^ere  cared  for  by  the 
government,  provided  they  did  not  have  chil- 
dren or  relatives  who  wished  to  keep  them  in 
their  own  homes.  In  the  latter  case  they  were 
given  adequate  pensions. 

I  found  less  of  the  "institution"  atmos- 
phere in  these  homes  than  in  those  I  have 


O    - 
o    ~ 

o    " 

Si 
>  g 

GO    " 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     119 

seen  in  other  countries.  Books,  pictures,  a 
meeting-room,  and  dining-room,  and  a  gen- 
eral atmosphere  of  comfort  and  freedom 
seemed  to  make  the  elderly  people  content 
and  happy.  They  are  not  considered  *' pau- 
pers" or  ** charges  on  the  state,"  but  human 
beings  who  have  contributed  their  service  to 
society  and  are  entitled  to  all  the  peace  and 
comfort  societj^  can  give  them. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  the  organization  and 
spirit  of  the  Red  Army  and  upon  the  educa- 
tion and  care  of  the  children  more  than  upon 
anything  else,  because  these  are  the  things 
that  made  the  strongest  impression  upon  me 
during  my  stay  in  Soviet  Russia.  They  stand 
out  above  all  else  in  the  memory  of  weeks 
crowded  with  a  multitude  of  rapid  and  vari- 
ous observations.  The  soldiers  and  the  chil- 
dren come  first  in  the  consideration  of  the 
government.  Here  the  greatest  ingenuity  and 
energy  have  been  applied,  and  here  the  best 
results  are  evident.  It  has  been  the  purpose 
of  the  Soviet  leaders  to  make  the  first  line  of 
defense — the  army — unconquerable.  Govern- 
ment officials  claim  they  have  succeeded  in 
this,  and  point  to  the  map  as  evidence.  The 
children,  they  say,  are  the  strategical  reserves 
of  the  communist  state.  They  are  aiming  to 
keep  them  health}^  in  body,  despite  the  priva- 
tions imposed  by  the  blockade,  and  to  develop 
them  mentall}^  and  physically  to  carry  on  the 
future  state.  No  one  can  deny  the  large  meas- 
ure of  success  realized. 


CHAPTER  S 

GOVERNMENT  INDUSTRY  AND  AGRICULTURE 

THE  SOVIET  STATE 

THE  All-Russian  Congress  of  Soviets  is 
composed  of  representatives  of  urban 
Soviets,  one  delegate  for  25,000  voters,  and  of 
rural  Soviets,  one  delegate  for  125,000  in- 
habitants. This  Congress  is  convoked  at 
least  twice  a  year.  There  had  already  been 
six  meetings.  The  Congress  elects  an  All-Rus- 
sian Central  Executive  Committee  of  not 
more  than  two  hundred  members,  which  is  the 
supreme  power  of  the  republic,  in  all  periods 
between  convocations  of  the  Congress.  It  di- 
rects in  a  general  way  the  activities  of  the 
Workers'  and  Peasants'  Government,  consid- 
ers and  enacts  all  measures  or  proposals 
introduced  by  the  Soviet  of  Peoples'  Commis- 
sars, convokes  the  Congress  of  Soviets,  and 
forms  a  Council  of  People's  Commissars. 
This  coimcil  in  turn  is  entrusted  with  the  gen- 
eral management  of  the  affairs  of  the  republic 
and  in  this  capacity  issues  decrees,  resolutions 
and  orders,  notifying  the  Central  Executive 
Committee  immediately  of  all  such  orders  or 
decrees. 

120 


**BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     121 

There  are  seventeen  of  these  Commissars, 
(1)  Foreign  Affairs,  (2)  Army,  (3)  Navy, 
(4)  Interior,  (5)  Justice,  (6)  Labor,  (7)  So- 
cial Welfare,  (8)  Education,  (9)  Post  and 
Telegraph,  (10)  National  Affairs,  (11)  Fi- 
nances, (12)  Ways  of  Communication,  (13) 
Agriculture,  (14)  Commerce  and  Industry, 
(15)  National  Supplies,  (16)  Supreme  Soviet 
of  National  Economy,  (17)  Public  Health. 
Each  Commissar  has  a  collegium,  or  commit- 
tee, the  members  of  which  are  appointed  by 
the  Council  of  People 's  Commissars,  of  which 
body  Lenin  is  the  president. 

These  committees  act  as  the  administrators 
of  the  nation,  dealing  mth  ratification  and 
amendments  to  the  constitution;  the  gen- 
eral interior  and  foreign  policy  of  the 
republic;  boundaries;  the  admission  or  seces- 
sions of  new  members;  the  establishing  or 
changing  of  weights,  measures,  or  money 
denominations;  declarations  of  war  or  peace 
treaties;  loans,  commercial  agreements  or 
treaties;  taxes;  military  affairs;  legislation 
and  judicial  procedure;  civil  and  criminal 
procedure;  and  citizenship. 

Local  affairs  are  administered  by  local 
Soviets,  in  the  following  order :  Rural  Soviets, 
of  ten  or  less  than  ten  members,  send  one  dele- 
gate to  the  rural  congress,  which  in  turn  sends 
one  delegate  for  each  ten  of  its  members  to 
the  County  Soviet  Congress.  This  County 
Soviet  Congress  sends  one  delegate  for  each 


122     ^'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

1,000  inhabitants  (though  not  more  than  three 
hundred  in  all  may  be  sent)  to  the  Provincial 
Soviet  Congress,  which  is  made  up  of  repre- 
sentatives of  both  urban  and  rural  Soviets. 
The  Provincial  Soviet  Congress  sends  from 
its  body  one  representative  for  10,000  inhab- 
itants of  the  rural  districts,  and  one  for  each 
2,000  voters  in  the  city,  to  the  Regional  Soviet 
Congress.  This  Congress  sends  one  delegate 
for  each  125,000  inhabitants  to  the  All-Rus- 
sian Congress  of  Soviets. 

All  these  Congresses  of  Soviets  elect  their 
own  executive  committees  for  handling  local 
affairs,  but  in  small  rural  districts  ques- 
tions are  decided  at  general  meetings  of  the 
voters  whenever  possible.  The  functions  of 
the  local  Congresses  of  Soviets  and  deputies 
are  given  thus  in  the  Constitution :  To  carry 
out  all  orders  of  the  respective  higher  organs 
of  the  Soviet  Power;  to  take  all  steps  for 
raising  the  cultural  and  economic  standard  of 
the  given  territory;  to  decide  all  questions 
of  local  importance  within  their  respective 
territories;  and  to  coordinate  all  Soviet  ac- 
tivity in  their  respective  territories. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  Supreme  Council 
of  National  Economy,  which  is  established 
under  the  Council  of  the  People's  Commis- 
sars, deals  with  the  organization  and  distri- 
bution of  production.  It  coordinates  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  federal  and  the  local  Soviets, 
and   has   the   right   of   confiscation,    requisi- 


'^BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     123 

tion,  or  compulsory  syndication  of  various 
branches  of  industry  and  commerce ;  it  deter- 
mines the  amount  of  raw  materials  and  fuel 
needed,  obtains  and  distributes  them,  and  or- 
ganizes and  supplies  the  rural  economy.  It 
works  in  close  and  constant  touch  with  the 
All-Russian  Professional  Alliances,  and  under 
its  direction  the  latter  constantly  regulates 
the  wage  scales  in  accordance  with  the  rise 
and  fall  of  prices  of  commodities.  When  I 
was  in  Moscow  the  average  wage  paid  was 
3,000  rubles  per  'month,  and  in  Petrograd 
3,500.  A  member  of  the  Council  of  People's 
Commissars  received  4,500  per  month,  out  of 
which  he  had  to  pay  rent  and  buy  food  and 
clothing.  Lenin,  as  president,  received  the 
same  amount,  which  was  equivalent  to  about 
$180  in  American  money. 

All  men  and  women  of  the  republic  belong- 
ing to  the  following  classes  are  allowed  to 
vote  after  their  eighteenth  year:  Individ- 
uals doing  productive  or  useful  work;  all 
i:)ersons  engaged  in  housekeeping  which  en- 
ables others  to  do  productive  work ;  peasants 
who  employ  no  help  in  agricultural  labor; 
soldiers  of  the  army  and  sailors  of  the  nav}^; 
citizens  who  are  incapacited  for  work;  and 
foreigners  who  live  in  and  are  working  for 
the  republic. 

Suffrage  and  candidacy  are  denied  to  per- 
sons who  employ  labor  in  order  to  obtain 
profits;  persons  who  live  on  an  income,  such 


124     "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

as  interest  from  capital,  receipts  from  prop- 
erty, etc.;  private  merchants,  trade  or  com- 
mercial brokers;  monks  and  clergy  of  all 
denominations;*  employees  and  agents  of  the 
former  police,  gendarmes,  or  secret  service; 
persons  under  legal  guardianship,  or  who 
have  been  declared  by  law  as  demented  or 
mentally  deficient;  and  persons  who  have 
been  deprived  of  their  rights  of  citizenship 
by  a  Soviet,  for  selfish  or  dishonorable 
offences  for  the  term  fixed  by  the  Soviet. 

The  Church  has  been  separated  from  the 
State  and  the  School  from  the  Church,  but  the 
right  of  religious  or  anti-religious  propa- 
ganda is  accorded  to  every  citizen.  The  gov- 
ernment press  has  been  freed  from  all  de- 
pendence upon  capital  in  the  form  of  adver- 
tising, and  all  the  technical  and  material 
means  for  publication,  as  well  as  for  the  pub- 
lication of  books  and  pamphlets  are  free. 
Furnished  halls,  with  heating  and  lighting 
free,  are  given  to  the  poorest  peasantry  for 
meeting-places. 

la:n-d  n-atiottalization 

The  brief  Land  Decree   of  November  7, 

1917,  was  replaced  in  September,   1918,   by 

*'The  Fundamental  Law  of  Socialization  of 

the  Land,"  which  has  already  been  enforced 


*  There  have  been  some  modifications  of  this  regulation 
recently.  I  have  heard  since  my  return  to  America  that  clergy- 
men are  given  the  right  to  vote  provided  they  are  supported  by 
the  workers  and  not  from  endowments. 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     125 

throughout  the  country  except  in  the  cases  of 
land  owned  by  peasants  and  worked  by  the 
owner  and  his  family.  This  land  decree  has 
been  enforced  gradually,  and  perhaps  less 
completely  than  any  other  of  the  Soviet 
decrees,  first  because  the  energies  of  the  Gov- 
ernment w^ere  diverted  to  a  war  of  defence, 
and  secondly,  because  the  land  question  would 
naturally  take  the  longest  to  settle  even  in 
times  of  peace. 

The  land  decree  provides  that  all  property 
rights  in  land,  minerals,  oil,  gas,  peat,  medi- 
cinal springs,  w^aters,  timber  and  other  nat- 
ural resources  be  abolished  and  the  land  given 
to  the  use  of  the  entire  laboring  population, 
without  open  or  secret  compensation  to  for- 
mer ow^ners.  The  right  to  use  this  land  be- 
longs to  those  w^ho  till  it  by  their  own  labor, 
and  is  not  restricted  by  sex,  religion,  nation- 
ality, or  foreign  citizenship.  Under-surface 
deposits,  timber,  etc.,  are  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Soviet  powers,  local  or  federal,  and  all 
live  stock  and  agricultural  implements  are  to 
be  taken  over  without  indemnification  by  the 
land  departments  of  the  Soviets.  Infants, 
or  minors,  cripples,  invalids,  or  aged  persons 
who  would  be  deprived  of  their  means  of  sub- 
sistence by  the  enforcement  of  this  decree 
are  pensioned  either  for  life  or  until  they 
attain  their  majority.  Minors  are  given  the 
same  pension  as  soldiers. 

Land  may  be  used  for  cultural  and  educa- 


126     "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

tional  purposes;  for  agricultural  purposes, 
communities,  associations,  village  organiza- 
tions, individuals  and  families;  and  for  in- 
dustrial, commercial  and  transportation  en- 
terprises under  the  control  of  the  Soviet 
power.  It  is  given  to  those  who  wish  to 
work  it  for  themselves,  to  local  agricultural 
workers  whose  plots  are  now  too  small,  or  who 
have  been  employed  by  land  owners,  and  to 
immigrants  who  come  from  towns  or  cities  in 
order  to  work  on  the  land. 

When  the  land  was  turned  over  to  the  peas- 
ants each  one  seized  the  opportunity  to  estab- 
lish his  own  little  homestead.  Since  that  time 
the  peasants  have  discovered  the  benefits  of 
cooperative  agricultural  production,  and  have 
established  their  own  agricultural  communes 
all  over  the  country. 

In  the  Orel  Government  there  were  391  of 
these  communes,  covering  39,000  dessiatins,* 
with  a  population  of  29,000  people.  In 
the  province  of  Moghilev  there  were  225,  with 
more  than  11,000  people  and  40,000  dessiatins 
of  land.  In  the  Vitebsk  government  there 
were  214,  covering  60,000  dessiatins  of  land 
with  a  population  of  60,000.  In  the  province 
of  Novgorod  there  were  72,  with  11,376  in- 
habitants and  22,253  dessiatins.  In  Kaluga 
150,  with  6,500  inhabitants,  covering  12,000 
dessiatins.  Officials  estimated  that  this  num- 
ber would  be  doubled  before  the  end  of  1919. 

*  A  dessiatin  is  approximately  2.7  acres. 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     127 

In  the  Petrograd  Government  830  communes 
were  organized,  with  17,000  dessiatins  and 
15,313  inhabitants,  all  of  whom  were  laborers. 
In  Tula  there  were  78,  with  5,465  workers, 
and  8,554  dessiatins  of  land. 

L^lBOR   LAWS 

The  Soviet  Russian  Code  of  Labor  Laws 
passed  by  the  Russian  Central  Executive 
Committee  in  1919  covers  the  whole  field  of 
Russian  labor  activities.  To  workers  in  other 
countries  some  of  the  provisions  will  appear 
drastic,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Russia  is  still  an  armed  camp  and  that 
the  war  has  disorganized  industry,  transpor- 
tation and  almost  every  other  form  of  en- 
deavor. I  was  informed  that  every  effort  was 
being  made  under  these  laws  to  coordinate 
the  productive  forces  of  the  country  with  a 
view  to  securing  the  highest  possible  produc- 
tion for  the  pressing  needs  of  the  Russian 
people.  When  the  war  stops,  as  it  no  doubt 
wiU  in  the  immediate  future,  Soviet  Russia 
will  be  faced  with  the  problem  of  diverting 
into  productive  channels  its  three  million 
soldiers,  as  well  as  other  millions  now  engaged 
directly  or  indirectly  in  the  war.  Just  as  we 
had  our  *'Work  or  Fight"  measures  in  this 
country  for  the  purpose  of  utilizing  the  na- 
tion's human  energy  in  a  profitable  way  in 
time  of  stress,  so  in  Soviet  Russia  every  effort 
is  being  made  to  place  the  workers  where  the 


128     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

greatest  results  to  the  nation  as  a  wHole  will 
accrue. 

In  connection  with  the  passage  of  these 
labor  laws,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
working  people  in  Soviet  Russia  enjoy  much 
more  control  at  the  present  time  than  do  the 
same  class  of  people  in  possibly  any  other 
country.  One  must  take  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  these  laws  were  initiated  by  the 
unions  themselves  or  their  representatives, 
who  shared  jointly  with  the  political  side  of 
the  Government  the  responsibility  for  main- 
taining the  new  order.  Many  of  the  former 
so-called  bourgeoisie  of  the  old  regime,  I  was 
informed,  have  spent  the  past  two  years  do- 
ing nothing  but  live  by  speculation  and  they 
stir  up  trouble  on  the  slightest  pretext 
against  the  new  Government.  It  was  pri- 
marily to  reach  recalcitrants  of  this  character 
that  the  compulsory  provisions  were  inserted 
in  the  code.  The  result  of  the  passage  of 
these  laws  did  not,  so  far  as  I  could  judge, 
diminish  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Russian 
workers  for  the  new  order,  but  on  the  other 
hand  their  energy  seems  to  have  been  stimu- 
lated, no  doubt  because  they  were  beginning 
to  feel  that  through  their  various  organiza- 
tions this  step  had  been  taken  for  the  express 
purpose  of  forcing  into  production  every 
man  and  woman  in  the  country  capable  of 
producing  and  helping  to  reconstruct  Russia. 

Article  I  of  the  code  deals  with  compulsory 


"BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     129 

labor.  It  provides  tliat  all  citizens  of  the 
Soviet  Republic,  with  the  following  excep- 
tions, are  subject  to  compulsory  labor: 

First,  persons  under  sixteen  years  of  age; 
second,  all  persons  over  fifty  years  of  age; 
third,  persons  who  have  become  incapacitated 
by  injury  or  illness ;  fourth,  women  for  a  pe- 
riod of  eight  weeks  before  and  eight  weeks 
after  confinement. 

All  students  are  subject  to  compulsory 
labor  at  the  schools.  Labor  conditions  in  all 
establishments,  Soviet,  nationalized,  public 
and  private,  are  regulated  by  tariff  rules 
drafted  by  the  trade  unions  in  agreement 
with  the  directors  or  owners  of  establishments 
and  enterprises  and  approved  by  the  people's 
commissariat  of  labor. 

Article  II,  entitled  ''The  Right  to  Work,'' 
provides  that  all  citizens  able  to  work  have 
the  right  to  employment  at  their  vocations 
and  remuneration  fixed  for  such  class  of 
work.  The  district  exchange  bureaus  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  Distribution,  in  agree- 
ment with  respective  unions,  assign  individual 
wage  earners  or  groups  of  them  to  work  at 
other  trades  if  there  is  no  demand  for  labor 
at  the  vocation  of  the  persons  in  question. 
All  persons  of  the  female  sex  and  those  of 
the  male  sex  under  eighteen  years  of  age  have 
no  right  to  work  at  night  or  in  those  indus- 
tries in  which  the  conditions  of  labor  are  espe- 
cially hard  or  dangerous. 


130    **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

Article  III,  provides  for  the  metliods  of 
labor  distribution.  Any  wage  earner  who  is 
not  engaged  on  work  at  his  vocation  shall  reg- 
ister at  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Dis- 
tribution as  unemployed.  An  unemployed  per- 
son has  no  right  to  refuse  an  offer  of  work 
at  his  vocation,  providing  the  working  condi- 
tions conform  with  the  standards  fixed  by  the 
respective  tariff  regulations,  or,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  same,  by  the  trades  unions.  An 
unemployed  person  who  is  offered  work  out- 
side his  vocation  shall  be  obliged  to  accept  it 
on  the  understanding,  if  he  so  wishes,  that 
this  be  only  until  he  receives  work  at  his 
vocation. 

Article  V,  makes  provision  for  the  transfer 
of  a  wage  earner  to  other  work  within  the 
enterprise,  establishment  or  institution  where 
he  is  employed.  His  transfer  may  be  ordered 
by  the  managing  authorities  of  said  enter- 
prise, establishment  or  institution.  The  deci- 
sion of  the  Department  of  Labor  in  the  matter 
of  a  transfer  of  labor  may  be  appealed  from 
under  the  law  by  the  interested  parties  to  the 
District  Department  of  Labor  or  to  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor,  whose  deci- 
sion of  the  matter  in  dispute  is  final.  In  case 
of  urgent  public  work  the  Department  of 
Labor,  in  agreement  with  the  respective  pro- 
fessional unions,  may  order  the  transfer  of  a 
whole  group  of  wage  earners  from  the  organi- 
zation where  they  are  employed  to  another 


•*«BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA''     131 

situated  in  tlie  same  or  a  different  locality. 
TMs  is  done,  provided  a  sufficient  number  of 
volunteers  for  sucli  work  cannot  be  found. 

Under  Article  VI,  which  covers  remuner- 
ation of  labor,  the  law  provides  that  in  work- 
ing out  tariff  rates  and  determining  the 
standard  rates  of  remuneration  all  wage 
earners  of  a  trade  shall  be  divided  into 
groups  of  skill,  and  a  definite  standard  of  re- 
muneration shall  be  fixed  for  each  group. 
In  determining  the  standard  of  remuneration 
for  each  category,  consideration  must  be 
given  to  the  kind  of  labor,  the  danger  of  the 
conditions  under  which  the  work  is  per- 
formed, the  complexity  and  accuracy  of  the 
work.  Remuneration  for  piece-work  is  com- 
puted by  dividing  the  daily  tariff  rate  by  the 
number  of  pieces  constituting  the  production 
standard.  Remuneration  for  overtime  work 
shall  not  exceed  time  and  a  half.  During 
illness  of  a  wage  earner  the  remuneration  due 
him  shall  be  paid  as  a  subsidy  from  the  hos- 
pital fund.  The  unemployed  receive  a  sub- 
sidy out  of  the  funds  for  unemployed. 

Under  Article  VII,  which  deals  with  work- 
ing hours,  provision  is  made  that  the  duration 
of  a  normal  working  da.y  must  in  no  case 
exceed  eight  hours  for  day  work  and  seven 
hours  for  night  work,  and  that  the  duration 
of  a  normal  day,  first,  for  persons  under  eigh- 
teen years  of  age,  and  second,  for  persons 
working  in  especially  hard  or  health-endan- 


132     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

gering  branches  of  industry,  must  not  exceed 
six  hours.  In  case  the  nature  of  the  work  is 
such  that  it  requires  a  working  day  in  excess 
of  the  normal,  two  or  more  shifts  shall  be 
engaged.  Except  in  extreme  cases  work  in 
excess  of  the  normal  hours,  or  what  is  usually 
caUed  overtime  work,  is  not  permitted.  No 
females  and  no  males  under  eighteen  years  of 
age  may  do  any  overtime  work,  and  the  time 
spent  by  those  on  such  work  in  the  course  of 
two  consecutive  days  must  not  exceed  four 
hours.  All  wage  earners  must  be  allowed  a 
weekly  uninterrupted  rest  of  not  less  than 
forty-two  hours,  and  on  the  eve  of  rest  days 
the  normal  working  day  is  reduced  by  two 
hours.  Every  wage  earner  who  has  worked 
without  interruption  not  less  .than  six  months 
shaU  be  entitled  to  leave  of  absence  for  two 
weeks,  and  every  wage  earner  who  has 
worked  without  interruption  not  less  than  a 
year  shall  be  entitled  to  leave  of  absence  for 
not  less  than  one  month  with  full  pay. 

Article  VIII  deals  with  methods  to  insure 
efficiency  of  labor.  The  standard  output  for 
wage  earners  of  each  trade  and  group  is  fixed 
by  valuation  commissions  of  the  respective 
trades  unions.  This  article  provides  that  a 
wage  earner  systematically  producing  less 
than  the  fixed  standard  may  be  transferred 
by  the  decision  of  the  proper  valuation  com- 
mission to  other  work  in  the  same  group  and 
category,  or  to  a  lower  group  or  category 


'^BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"    133 

with  a  corresponding  reduction  of  wages. 
However,  appeal  can  be  taken  from  this  pro- 
vision of  the  law  as  well  as  all  other  provi- 
sions in  the  code. 

Article  IX  provides  for  protection  of  life, 
health  and  labor  of  persons  engaged  in  any 
economic  activity,  and  the  carrying  out  of 
this  part  of  the  law  is  entrusted  to  labor 
inspectors,  technical  inspectors  and  the 
representatives  of  sanitary  inspection.  The 
labor  inspection  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  and  its 
local  branches,  which  are  the  Departments  of 
Labor,  and  is  composed  of  labor  inspectors, 
elected  by  the  councils  of  professional  unions. 
The  inspectors  are  compelled  under  the  law 
to  visit  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  night  all  the 
industrial  enterprises  of  their  district  and  all 
places  where  work  is  carried  on,  as  weU  as 
places  provided  for  the  workmen  by  the  en- 
terprises, such  as  rooming-houses,  asylums, 
baths,  etc.,  and  to  assist  the  trades  unions  and 
works  committee  in  their  efforts  to  ameliorate 
in  individual  enterprises  as  weU  as  in 
branches  of  industry. 

This  brief  outline  of  the  Code  of  Labor 
Laws,  the  full  text  of  which  will  be  found  in 
the  appendix,  shows  how  thoroughly  the  new 
regime  in  Russia  has  gone  into  the  ques- 
tion of  organizing  the  labor  power  of  the 
country  for  production  on  the  highest  scale. 
I  was  told  over  and  over  again  by  various 


134     *'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

officials  of  the  labor  organizations  of  Soviet 
Russia  and  the  Government  officials  as  well, 
that  what  they  were  interested  in  above  all 
else  at  the  present  time  was  the  organization 
of  labor  along  lines  that  would  insure  suf- 
ficient production  of  essential  commodities  to 
meet  the  needs  of  all  the  people  under  Soviet 
rule. 

TRANSPORTATION 

Before  the  war  there  were  in  Russia  37,000 
railway  locomotives.  At  the  end  of  the  war 
13,000  were  left.  Of  these,  at  the  time  of  the 
Brest  Litovsk  treaty,  thirty-five  percent  were 
disabled.  In  the  spring  of  1919  the  total  num- 
ber of  disabled  locomotives  amounted  to  fifty 
percent.  Since  that  time  there  has  been  some 
improvement,  and  last  August  only  forty- 
seven  percent  of  them  were  disabled.  There  is 
a  great  demand  for  locomotives.  Russia  could 
use  to  advantage  the  entire  product  of  the 
United  States  for  the  next  six  years.  Ap- 
proximately the  same  conditions  prevail  with 
reference  to  cars. 

Practically  the  whole  transportation  system 
was  given  over  to  the  movement  of  troops 
and  army  supplies.  In  certain  sections  of 
the  country  there  was  a  surplus  of  grain,  but 
no  facilities  to  transport  it  to  the  cities. 

On  the  last  stage  of  the  journey  to  Moscow 
I  had  a  vivid  glimpse  into  the  transportation 
problem  of  Soviet  Russia.  Two  or  three  hours 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"     135 

out  of  Smolensk  we  stopped  at  a  small  way 
station  and  hooked  on  seventeen  cars  loaded 
with  wood  intended  to  relieve  the  critical  fuel 
shortage  in  Moscow.  After  five  or  six  hours' 
journey,  with  only  brief  stops,  the  train  made 
a  prolonged  halt.  I  got  out  to  learn  the  cause 
of  the  delay.  The  cars  loaded  with  wood  had 
been  uncoupled  from  the  train  and  men  were 
busy  throwing  the  billets  into  the  field  by  the 
track.  The  station  was  crowded  with  soldiers. 
Word  had  been  received  to  rush  reinforce- 
ments southward  to  meet  the  advance  of 
Denikin.  These  cars  were  needed  to  carry 
the  troops. 

*^What  about  the  wood?"  I  asked,  '*Isn't  it 
needed  in  Moscow?" 

**Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "The  nights  are 
getting  very  cold  in  Moscow.  But  Moscow 
must  wait.    The  army  comes  first." 

Such  incidents  were  happening  daily, 
hourly,  no  doubt,  all  over  Russia.  Always, 
they  complained,  the  necessities  of  the  war 
and  the  mobilization  hampered  the  produc- 
tive enterprises  of  the  nation. 

INDUSTRY 

While  I  was  in  Moscow  the  Government 
received  a  report  from  the  Supreme  Council 
of  National  Economy  to  the  effect  that  war 
industry  was  progressing  at  full  speed  and 
producing  sufficient  supplies  and  ammuni- 
tions for  the  army.   In  addition  the  depart- 


136     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

ments  of  building  materials,  fur,  leather,  fuel, 
metal,  chemicals,  and  trade,  had  been  or- 
ganized. There  were  fifty-one  factories  in  the 
building  material  branch  alone,  capable  of 
producing  121,500,000  bricks,  2,000,000  poods 
of  cement,  870,000  poods  of  lune,  and  510,000 
poods  of  tiles.  The  tanneries  were  running 
on  the  basis  of  240,800  poods  annually.  The 
department  of  forests  had  obtained  a  con- 
tract for  twenty  percent  of  the  fuel  demand, 
in  the  Moscow  Government  alone.  There  were 
sixty-eight  saw  mills  and  128  planing  mills 
running  on  full  time.  All  paper  factories 
were  working.  The  chemical  department  con- 
trols the  paper,  china,  and  chemical  produc- 
tion. The  trade  department  supervised  175,- 
000  workers  and  had  its  own  art  industry 
museum. 

The  Government  is  planning  the  construc- 
tion of  enormous  power  systems,  one  of  which 
will  be  the  largest  in  the  world.  They  will 
also  utilize  the  water  falls  for  great  hydraulic 
power  stations,  all  of  which  would  require 
great  amounts  of  machinery  from  America. 

CANALS 

The  Volga  and  Don  canal  will  connect  the 
Black  and  Caspian  Seas  and  the  Volga  river 
with  the  Baltic  Sea.  Canal  Dredges  are 
needed  to  build  these. 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"    137 

RAW  MATERIALS 

There  are  at  present  in  warehouses  in  Rus- 
sia 200,000  tons  of  flax,  the  present  market 
price  of  which,  in  London,  is  over  $1,000  per 
ton.  There  are  also  100,000  tons  of  hemp. 
There  is  gold,  timber,  and  ninety  percent  of 
the  world's  supply  of  platinum. 

Many  factories  will  be  erected,  great  rolling 
mills,  steel  mills,  etc.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that  Russia  will  eventually  be  able  to  produce 
everything  it  needs.  The  country  is  thor- 
oughly stocked  with  all  kinds  of  mineral 
products  and  it  is  merely  a  matter  of  time 
before  it  will  be  entirely  independent.  It 
struck  me  that  in  the  meantime  the  American 
business  men  are  missing  a  wonderful  oppor- 
tunity in  these  ready  markets  for  their 
machinery  and  equipment.  Russia  will  be,  in 
the  course  of  a  very  few  years,  a  very  strong 
competitor,  whereas  now  it  offers  a  vast 
market. 


CHAPTER  XI 
PROPAGANDA 

ON  my  way  into  Eed  Russia  the  train  on 
which  I  was  travelling  passed,  between 
Rejistza  and  Novo-Sokoliev,  a  train  of  ten  or 
twelve  cars,  the  sides  of  which  were  covered 
with  huge,  multi-colored  placards.  It  was 
the  ^' Lenin  Train"  used  for  carrying  propa- 
ganda literature  all  over  the  republic.  When 
I  saw  it,  it  was  on  a  tour  of  the  country  be- 
hind the  Western  Front. 

The  train  was  decorated  with  great  paint- 
ings in  bright  colors  and  with  revolutionary 
inscriptions.  In  one  of  the  cars  was  a  mov- 
ing picture  apparatus  and  screen;  another 
was  fitted  up  as  a  book  shop ;  and  a  third  as  a 
telegraph  station  which  posted  the  latest  news 
bulletins  at  every  station,  and  circulated  news 
from  the  front  and  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  train  carried  representatives 
from  government  departments  and  a  staff  of 
speakers  and  lecturers. 

It  had  been  in  constant  service  for  about 
two  months,  during  which  time  it  travelled 
through  the  districts  of  Pskov,  Vitebsk,  Let- 
tonia.  White  Russia,  Lithuania,  and  Khar- 
kov, covering  some  3,590  versts.  In  all  the 
stations  and  towns  through  which  it  passed, 

138 


^'BAKBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     139 

leaflets,  pamphlets  and  books  were  distributed. 
Meetings  were  arranged  and  lectures  given, 
and  the  Commissary  representatives  visited 
the  Soviet  institutions  offering  suggestions 
and  aid.  Workers  and  peasants  assembled 
about  the  train  and  listened  to  speeches  made 
from  the  roofs  of  cars  and  gathered  bundles 
of  literature  to  be  distributed  in  the  villages 
and  workshops.  They  told  of  their  difficulties 
to  the  speakers  and  asked  them  for  their  ad- 
vice. 

In  America  I  had  always  heard  so  much 
about  the  illiteracy  of  the  Russian  peasants 
that  I  wondered  what  use  quantities  of  read- 
ing matter  would  be  to  them.  I  discovered 
that  illiteracy  was  not  nearly  so  general  as 
popularly  supposed,  and  was  decreasing 
rapidly  imder  the  government's  energetic 
educational  program.  In  every  community 
there  is  at  least  one  who  can  read  and  write. 
Russians  live  in  villages  everywhere ;  even  on 
the  plains  or  steppes  such  a  thing  as  an  iso- 
lated farmhouse  or  workman's  cottage  is  rare. 
The  farmer  may,  and  often  does,  have  to  go 
some  distance  to  work  his  land,  but  his  home 
is  always  among  other  homes.  When  litera- 
tures arrives  those  who  can,  read  aloud.  The 
others  gather  around  the  reader  to  listen. 
Long  discussions,  so  dearly  loved  by  the  Rus- 
sians, follow. 

The  "Lenin  Train"  was  preceded  by  tele- 
graphic   announcements    of    its    coming,    so 


UO     "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 

there  was  a  crowd  to  meet  it  at  every  station. 
Sometimes  the  reception  was  very  cere- 
monious. At  Rejistza,  where  it  arrived  at 
night,  it  was  met  with  banners,  music  and 
torches.  At  a  tiny  station,  Malinooka,  a 
crowd  of  peasants  from  the  nearby  villages 
was  waiting  to  receive  their  literature  and 
^Ho  hear  directly  from  the  seat  of  their  gov- 
ernment." I  learned  that  five  more  similar 
trains  were  being  prepared  to  be  put  on  the 
Volga  and  its  tributaries,  and  motor-trucks 
to  be  sent  into  the  sections  where  neither  rail- 
ways nor  waterways  entered.  One  was  to  be 
called  ''The  October  Revolution,"  another 
"The  Communist,"  and  a  third  ''The  Red 
Army."  The  others  were  not  yet  named. 
Boats  too  were  used  for  that  purpose. 

It  was  easy  to  understand  why  these  peo- 
ple, beset  on  all  sides,  were  carrying  on  prop- 
aganda to  defend  their  country.  But  I  found 
that  their  propaganda  did  not  end  with  this 
defensive  material.  By  far  the  greater  pro- 
portion of  it  was  what  might  be  called  cul- 
tural. It  was  intended  not  only  to  waken  the 
people  to  a  realization  that  their  own  lives 
were  threatened,  but  to  teach  them  that  they 
were  a  part  of  the  great  world  that  lay  out- 
side their  own  land.  The  art,  the  music,  the 
literature  and  the  science  of  the  world  was 
brought  to  them  in  simple  form  so  that 
they  could  comprehend  it  and  be  stimulated 
to    further    reading   and    study.      Whatever 


**BAKBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"    141 

else  tlie  Eussians  may  be  they  are  not  mate- 
rialistic. I  found  them  more  eager  for  news 
and  knowledge  than  for  food,  of  which  they 
got  so  little.  Whatever  news  is  obtained  from 
the  outside  world  is  disseminated  at  once,  by 
telegraph  and  bulletins,  to  all  parts  of  the 
coimtry. 

At  the  town  of  Praele  a  Bolshevist  soldier 
said  to  me  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  ^'You 
have  a  great  country  in  America." 

*'Why  do  you  think  it  a  great  country?" 
I  asked. 

*'They  are  shooting  negroes  in  Chicago  and 
Washington  now,"  was  his  answer;  ''and 
that's  the  country  that  talks  about  Soviet 
Russia  being  barbarous." 

Naturally  I  was  interested  in  the  confirma- 
tion or  refutation  of  the  reports  I  had  heard, 
that  the  Bolshe\dki  intend  to  spread  their 
propaganda  all  over  the  world.  Soviet  offi- 
cials talked  frankly  to  me  about  prisoners 
and  propaganda.  They  liked  to  take  prison- 
ers, they  said.  They  only  wished  they  had 
more  food  so  that  they  could  afford  to  take 
more  of  them.  They  didn't  want  them  to 
starve.  They  would  like  to  take  a  million 
prisoners  a  day  if  they  had  enough  food  and 
paper.  "After  all,"  they  said,  ''our  war  is 
primarily  a  war  of  education." 

At  many  points  along  the  battlefronts 
I  saw  great  banners  stretched  between 
posts,  with  letters  large  enough  to  be  read 


142     ''BAEBAPtOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

a  hundred  yards  away,  telling  the  other 
side  what  the  war  was  about.  One,  which  I 
had  translated  for  me  on  the  Lettish  front, 
read,  *'The  Germans  are  marching  on  Eiga. 
German  soldiers  are  helping  you  to  destroy 
the  working  class  republic  in  Russia.  If  you 
want  to  defend  Lettland  go  back  and  drive 
the  Germans  out  of  Riga."  The  Russians 
placed  great  reliance  on  this  battlefront  pro- 
paganda. I  found  evidence  in  the  Lettish 
ranks  of  the  effectiveness  of  these  tactics. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  Soviet  officials  for  this  propaganda  at  the 
fighting  front,  and  their  reliance  upon  it  to 
achieve  important  military  results,  was  their 
seeming  indifference  to  propaganda  abroad. 
They  were  anxious  enough  that  the  case  for 
the  Russian  revolution  and  the  Soviet  Govern- 
ment should  be  presented  to  the  people  of 
other  coimtries,  but  they  displayed  none  of 
that  eager  confidence  in  their  ability  to  stir 
revolution  abroad  with  which  they  are  com- 
monly credited.  They  believed  that  by  means 
of  propaganda  they  could  break  the  morale 
of  any  army  brought  against  them;  but  they 
did  not  pretend  to  be  able  to  subvert  remote 
governments.  They  were  amused  by  the  fear 
of  Bolshevik  propaganda  displayed  in  the 
foreign  press.  They  were  not  inclined  to  rate 
their  powers  so  highly.  ''To  be  sure,"  they 
told  me,  "we  are  internationalists  and  revo- 
lutionists, but  if  other  countries  are  not  ready 


Oh 


^m 

JO 

« 

c^ 

« 

"  o 

« 

•§1 

G 

Ml3 

oj 

^  c 

OS 

i;;  n 

' 

"bli-c 

c-S 

Ui'bn 

a 

Sw 

I 


**BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     143 

for  revolution  liow  can  we  stimulate  it  ?  That 
is  not  our  job.  We  have  had  our  revolution  in 
Russia  and  we  must  bend  all  our  energies  to 
preserve  it.  The  workers  in  other  countries 
must  take  care  of  their  own  affairs." 

They  were  willing  to  give  guarantees  that 
the  Soviet  Government  would  not  engage  in 
revolutionary  propaganda  abroad.  They  told 
me  that  they  had  repeatedly  assured  foreign 
journalists  and  agents  that  their  govermnents 
could  take  any  measures  they  saw  fit  to  pro- 
tect themselves  against  Russian  propaganda. 

Of  propaganda  in   Russia   itself   there   is 
plenty.    I  have  already  described  the  propa- 
ganda among  prisoners  of  war,   and  of  its 
effect  upon  the  English  prisoners  in  Moscow. 
I  have  no  doubt  the  same  ''torture"  was  ad- 
ministered to  Americans  in  Siberia.     I  saw, 
in   an  American  magazine,   a   statement   of 
a  Canadian  soldier  that  he  and  many  of  his 
comrades  had  been  entirely  converted  to  the 
doctrines  of  Bolshevism,  but  he  attributed  his 
conversion  to  actual  experiences  and  to  the 
things  he  saw  rather  than  to  anything  he  had 
read  or  been  told.    It  occurs  to  an  unpreju- 
diced observer  who  has  been  in  Soviet  Russia 
that  the  nations  that  feared  the  contagion  of 
Bolshevist  propaganda  took  the  worst  possible 
way  of  avoiding  it  when  they  sent  their  young 
soldiers  into  a  land  full  of  propaganda  ex- 
plaining and  upholding  the  new  order  estab- 
lished there. 


CHAPTER  XII 
COMING  OUT  OF  SOVIET  RUSSIA 

I  "WAS  checked  and  guarded  out  of  Eed 
Eussia  in  the  same  manner  in  wMcli  I 
had  been  checked  and  guarded  into  it.  When 
I  was  ready  to  leave  Petrograd,  early  in  Octo- 
ber, ZinoviefE  delegated  as  my  guard  and 
guide  a  short,  stocky  Esthonian,  Isaac  Mik- 
kal.  As  Grafman  had  reminded  me  of 
Larkin,  so  Mikkal  reminded  me  of  Tom 
Hickey,  the  famous  Texas  socialist.  He  ap- 
peared rather  pleased  at  my  calling  him 
*' Hickey"  which  I  did,  throughout  the  jour- 
ney. 

We  left  Petrograd  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night,  and  arrived  at  Pskov  the  next  morning 
at  eight,  where  we  had  to  remain  until  five  in 
the  evening  before  we  could  get  a  train  for 
Rejistza,  which  we  reached  at  six  the  follow- 
ing day.  Here  the  division  commandant 
stamped  our  papers  and  sent  us  on  to  Velikie 
Luki  to  the  headquarters  of  the  army  com- 
mand. 

^* Hickey"  had  turned  out  lo  be  a  less 
aggressive  and  efficient  guide  than  Larkin, 
and  as  he  could  give  me  little  information 
about  either  the   country  we  were  passing 

144 


''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     145 

through  or  the  events  thai  were  taking  place, 
I  longed  often  for  my  old  friend  whom  I  had 
left  at  Moscow  weeks  before.  With  our  pa- 
pers stamped  at  Velikie  Luki,  we  were  al- 
lowed to  go  on  to  the  front  without  going 
through  Smolensk,  and  I  asked  the  comman- 
dant to  give  me  a  guide  who  understood  that 
part  of  the  Western  Front,  so  that  I  could 
proceed  more  swiftly.  He  granted  this  re- 
quest, but  said  that  "Hickey"  must  also  be  of 
the  party,  since  he  had  been  charged  at  Petro- 
grad  with  my  safe  delivery  and  must  make 
his  report  on  his  return  to  that  city.  After 
a  brief  telephone  conversation,  in  Russian, 
the  commandant  informed  me  that  another 
guide  would  appear  in  less  than  a  half  hour. 
We  had  dinner  and  waited  calmly.  At  the 
end  of  the  stipulated  time  my  guide  entered, 
and  to  my  surprise  and  pleasure  it  was 
*'Larkin.'' 

He  stopped  short,  looked  at  me  a  moment, 
raised  his  hands  to  his  head  and  brushed  off 
his  cap  which  fell  to  the  floor.  "God  love  a 
duck,  is  it  you?  They  told  me  there  was  a 
journalist  here  who  wanted  to  go  to  the  front 
but  if  I  had  known  it  was  you  I  would  have 
said  I  was  laid  up  with  cholera." 

I  introduced  my  two  guides  and  we  went 
to  the  station,  only  to  find  that  the  train  we 
had  expected  to  take  at  eleven  that  night 
would  not  go  before  five  the  next  morning. 
There  was  nothing  to  do  but  climb  in  one  of 


146  J'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

the  coacHes,  but  since  the  train  was  aiready 
full  of  soldiers,  talking,  singing,  and  smoking, 
there  was  but  little  sleep  for  me  that  night. 

At  five  in  the  morning  w^e  started — on  time 
at  last.  The  conductor  informed  me  that  we 
would  reach  Rejistza  at  five  in  the  after- 
noon, but  we  did  not  arrive  until  four  in  the 
morning.  I  endeavored  to  learn  from  both 
*'Larkin"  and  ^'Hickey''  the  real  reason  for 
the  delay,  but  they  told  me  to  *' forget  it.  A 
few  hours'  delay  makes  no  difference  to  you, 
one  way  or  the  other."  At  last  ^'Larkin" 
must  have  grown  very  weary  of  my  impor- 
tunities. At  any  rate  he  said,  *' Please  remem- 
ber you  are  in  Russia  and  that  we  are  at  war. 
All  trains  are  soldier  trains.  They  must  stop 
to  take  on  soldiers  and  to  let  soldiers  off.  They 
must  stop  to  make  repairs.  They  must  stop 
for  many  reasons.  Don't  imagine  you  are 
in  America,  on  an  express  train.  Some  time 
when  the  war  is  over  trains  will  run  on  time, 
but  now, — well  stop  kicking."    I  stopped. 

In  Rejistza  we  learned  that  we  must  wait 
until  four  p.m.  for  a  train  going  to  the 
Dvinsk  front.  In  the  division  conunandant's 
office  we  found  two  foreigners  who  had  come 
across  the  front  the  night  before.  They 
were  on  the  way  to  Moscow,  and  were  being 
checked  in  as  I  had  been.  The  commandant 
asked  ^'Larkin,"  whom  he  knew  quite  well, 
if  he  would  take  them  to  Velikie  Luki; 
and  on  ''Larkin's"  saying  that  he  had  been 


I 


**BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     147 

ientnisted  with  the  task  of  seeing  me  to  the 
front,  the  commandant  told  him  that  "Hick- 
ey"  could  see  me  through.  I  was  sorry  to  lose 
'*Larkin,"  but  there  was  nothing  else  to  be 
done,  and  we  parted  with  a  cordial  wish  that 
we  might  meet  again  under  more  favorable 
circumstances.  '*But,  God  love  a  duck, — I 
hope  you  stay  out  of  Russia  until  peace 
comes,"  were  his  last  words  to  me. 

When  ^^Hickey"  and  I  finally  reached 
Dvinsk  the  Poles  were  shelling  the  town. 
The  soldier  train  on  which  I  was  traveling 
stopped  two  miles  outside  the  city  and  the 
soldiers  detrained  and  began  marching  into 
Dvinsk  to  reinforce  their  comrades.  I  did 
not  wish  to  go  through  Dvinsk.  One  experi- 
ence under  shell-fire  had  been  sufficiently 
shocking  to  my  nervous  system,  and  it  wasn't 
my  war  at  any  rate.  I  protested  to  *'Hickey" 
that  he  had  been  instructed  to  see  me  safely 
across  the  front,  and  demanded  that  he  take 
me  to  some  other  point  where  I  could  cross. 
He  told  me  that  the  papers  read  that  I  was  to 
pass  through  the  Dvinsk  front.  I  said  that, 
papers  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  I 
refused  to  cross  at  Dvinsk.  Poor  ''Hickey" 
crossed  to  an  officer  and  held  a  discussion, 
during  which  he  made  a  few  notes.  At  the 
conclusion  of  their  talk  he  returned  to  me 
*'If  you  won't  go  this  way,"  he  told  me,  *^we 
will  have  to  go  back  on  this  train  seventy-five 
yersts  and  then  drive  ten  versts  across  coun- 


148    **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

try  to  the  thirty-second  division  command  to 
get  your  papers  amended.  Then  you'll  have 
to  return  to  the  same  station,  wait  for  a  train, 
ride  forty  versts,  get  off  and  drive  twenty-two 
versts  across  country  to  the  brigade  command 
of  this  division,  and  then  from  there  we  will 
have  to  drive  twenty  versts  more  to  the  Soviet 
outposts,  where  you  can  get  into  the  neutral 
zone  and  start  for  the  Lettish  outposts  seven- 
teen versts  away.'' 

All  my  former  desire  for  speedy  travel 
and  short  cuts  seemed  to  have  evaporated. 
I  yielded  meekly  to  this  decree  and  was,  I 
believe,  fairly  patient  during  the  two  days 
it  took  us  to  carry  out  this  long  program. 
When  we  finally  arrived  at  the  Soviet  front 
1  was  told  to  start  down  the  road  and  walk 
seventeen  versts,  which  would  bring  me  into 
Lettish  territory.  Again  my  suitcase  was 
heavy,  or  rather  it  was  still  heavy,  and  I  pro- 
tested that  I  could  not  walk  so  far  and  carry 
it.  But  no  vehicles  were  available  in  that  part 
of  the  country.  My  officer  informant  pointed 
to  a  village  two  or  three  versts  away,  across 
a  field,  and  said:  ''When  you  get  to  that 
village  you  may  be  able  to  hire  a  hay-rick." 

Even  that  comparatively  short  walk  did 
not  appear  attractive,  but  at  this  particular 
moment  there  came  around  a  bend  in  the 
road  an  old  Russian  driving  a  familiar 
hay-rick.  He  readily  consented  to  take  me 
to  the  village,  and  after  saying  farewell  to 


^^BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA"    149 

*^Hickey,"  and  enjoining  him  to  *'keep  smil- 
ing," my  aged  saviour  and  I  set  out  on  our 
journey.  A  half  hour  later,  in  the  village,  I 
tried  my  best,  with  my  still  limited  Russian 
vocabulary,  to  procure  another  hay-rick  to 
drive  me  the  fourteen  versts  remaining  be- 
tween me  and  the  Lettish  front.  Out  of  the 
crowd  of  villagers  that  surrounded  me  there 
emerged  a  Lettish  boy  of  perhaps  fifteen 
years,  who  told  me  in  German  that  he  would 
take  me  across.  When  the  villagers  under- 
stood what  I  wanted,  the  peasant  women  in- 
sisted that  I  must  have  food  before  starting.  I 
was  taken  into  one  of  the  dingy  little  homes, 
where  I  was  served  with  good  rye  bread,  but- 
ter, milk,  and  eggs,  which  I  ate  greedily,  I 
am  afraid,  for  I  was  very  hungry.  Not  even 
the  thousands  of  flies  that  I  had  to  brush 
away  before  I  could  take  a  bite  prevented 
my  enjoyment  of  this  food. 

At  seven  in  the  evening  my  boy  rescuer 
and  I  reached  the  Lettish  front,  this  time  in 
a  hay-rick  de  luxe,  with  straw  and  an  old 
quilt  on  the  slats  of  the  floor.  The  Lettish 
officers  examined  me  again,  and  told  me  that 
if  I  would  take  a  hay-rick  and  drive  twenty- 
two  versts  to  the  Kreisberg  station  I  could 
take  a  train  at  two  in  the  morning  that  would 
bring  me  to  Riga  early  the  next  afternoon. 
They  gave  me  food,  produced  a  hay-rick,  and, 
half  frozen  but  safe,  I  reached  Kreizberg 
and  finally  Riga,  at  one  the  next  afternoon. 


150     ^'BARBxVEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

Feeling  secure  at  last,  I  left  the  station  at 
Riga  and  proceeded  up  the  street  towards 
the  De  Rome  Hotel.  I  noticed  an  aeroplane 
circling  overhead,  but  I  had  grown  so  accus- 
tomed to  war  manoeuvers  that  I  disregarded 
it  entirely.  About  two  squares  further  on 
my  way  I  heard  a  terrific  crash  and  explosion 
and  turned  to  see  smoke  rising  from  the 
station  I  had  just  left.  A  German  aeroplane 
had  bombed  the  station,  kiUing  seven  people 
and  injuring  fourteen. 

Arrived  at  the  hotel,  I  asked  the  proprietor 
what  was  wrong.  He  told  me  that  the  Ger- 
mans were  marching  on  the  town,  and  shell- 
ing it  as  they  marched,  and  that  60,000  of 
them  were  just  across  the  river. 

My  only  thought  was  that  I  wanted  to  get 
out  at  once.  '*You  can't  go,"  he  said. 
**  There  are  no  boats  running  and  the  Ger- 
man army*  controls  the  railroad  to  Mitau." 

Apparently  it  was  as  dangerous  to  come 
out  to  civilization  as  it  had  been  to  go  into 
*' barbarous"  Soviet  Russia.  I  recalled  the 
peace  and  the  kindness  I  had  found  inside 
that  supposedly  violent  land  with  a  great 
longing. 

That  afternoon  I  went  to  the  Lettish 
Foreign  Office  to  visit  the  officials  who  had 
granted  me  permission  to  enter  a  few  weeks 
before.  They  appeared  glad  to  see  me,  but 
incredulous  as  to  my  identity.     Was  I  sure 

•  This  was  the  Army  of  Von  der  Glotz, 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIxY"     151 

that  I  had  been  safely  through  Russia  ?  Was 
I  still  in  the  flesh  or  merely  a  very  vigorous 
and  somewhat  pugnacious  ghost?  My  young 
friend  who  had  been  so  concerned  was  very 
eager  to  know  what  I  had  seen.  I  told  him  I 
could  indeed  confirm  his  worst  fears.  The 
Bolsheviki  were  jpeople  who  had  but  little 
respect  for  the  sacred  rights  of  private  prop- 
erty. I  hastened  to  make  my  escape  before 
he  could  ask  me  about  the  nationalization  of 
women.  I  did  not  want  to  disappoint  him 
too  much. 

The  next  day  all  the  guests  of  the  hotel 
were  locked  in  and  forbidden  to  leave  the 
hotel.  The  Lettish  staff  officers  were  estab- 
lished in  the  hotel,  two  doors  away  from  my 
room.  Two  regiments  of  Esthonians  reached 
Riga  that  day  and  their  first  act  was  to  place 
a  big  field-gun  immediately  in  front  of  the 
hotel  and  begin  firing  over  the  roof  of  it  into 
the  German  position.  Know^ing  the  rejouta- 
tion  of  the  Germans  for  finding  gun  posi- 
tions, I  was  not  very  sanguine  over  the 
prospects  of  my  safe  return  to  America.  The 
shelling  lasted  for  forty-eight  hours,  during 
which  time  the  deafening  noise  and  the  jar- 
ring of  the  walls  made  rest  impossible. 

The  Danish  Consul  and  his  staff  occupied 
the  rooms  immediately  across  the  hall  from 
mine.  The  third  day  they  invited  me  over  to 
lunch  with  them  in  their  room,  as  Lettish 
soldiers  had  been  billeted  in  the  dining-room 


152     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

downstairs.  About  four  in  the  afternoon, 
after  the  wine  had  all  been  consumed,  the 
Danes  began  singing  the  songs  of  their  own 
country.  Scarcely  an  hour  later  the  door  of 
the  room  w^as  opened  and  five  Lettish  officers 
marched  in,  ordering  us  all  to  ''Get  your 
clothes  together  and  get  ready."  The  Danish 
Consul  asked  what  they  meant.  *'You  have 
been  drinking  the  health  of  Germany  and 
singing  German  songs.  You  are  under  ar- 
rest," was  the  answer. 

I  was  somewhat  disappointed  when  they 
apologized  after  we  had  shown  them  our 
papers.  Arrest  and  deportation  to  other 
shores  seemed  very  attractive  to  me  just  then. 

A  little  later  the  proprietor  came  in  and 
told  us  that  food  was  getting  scarce,  that 
prices  had  doubled,  and  that  we  would  have 
to  pay  in  Czarist  rubles,  since  the  Lettish 
rubles  (wliich  he  had  been  glad  to  take  be- 
fore) were  no  longer  any  good.  After  we  had 
organized  a  vigorous  protest  he  recanted  and 
we  had  no  further  difficulty  on  that  score. 

The  next  day  Michael  Parbman  of  the 
Chicago  Trihune,  with  G.  G.  Desmond  of  the 
London  Daily  News,  dropped  in  from  some- 
where and  told  me  there  would  be  a  chance 
that  Sunday  night  of  going  to  Copenliagen 
on  a  British  destroyer.  Since  Desmond  was 
a  British  subject  we  chose  him  to  take  up  the 
matter  with  the  British  mission.  His  efforts 
were  successful,  and  we  left  the  hotel  under 


''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA*'     153 

cover  of  darkness  and,  hugging  the  walls  of 
the  buildings,  we  finally  reached  the  British 
mission.  In  company  with  several  English 
officers  we  started  through  the  dark  streets  at 
seven-thirty  in  the  evening  with  shells  falling 
everywhere,  and  walked  three  miles  to  the 
bend  of  the  Dvina,  out  of  range  of  the  firing. 
Twice  we  were  shot  at  by  Lettish  outposts  who 
had  not  been  informed  that  we  were  supposed 
to  pass.  Luckily  for  us  they  proved  to  be  bad 
shots,  and  the  shouts  of  ^'English,  English" 
from  the  officers  stopped  the  firing.  At  nine 
in  the  evening  we  reached  the  river  and  were 
bundled  into  two  small  boats,  pulled  by  a  slow- 
going  gasoline  launch.  The  Letts  were  on 
one  side  of  the  river;  the  Germans  on  the 
other,  and  both  sides  impartially  fired  at  us 
with  their,  rifles,  but  although  they  hit  each 
boat  once  they  did  not  touch  us.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  English  officers,  crouching  in  the 
bottoms  of  the  boats^ — beside  me — shouting 
** English,  English"  at  the  top  of  their- voices 
as  we  proceeded,  and  persisting  in  their 
shouting  of  the  word  that  had  hitherto  proven 
a  magic  one,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  could 
not  possibly  be  heard  by  either  side, 
and  forgetting,  apparently,  that  if  it  were 
heard  by  the  Germans  it  might  not  deter 
them. 

After  two  and  one-half  hours  of  this,  dur- 
ing which  we  traversed  eight  miles,  we 
reached  the  gulf  and  the  comparative  safety 


154     *'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

of  tlie  Britisli  cruiser  Ahdiel,     At  last  my 
troubles  were  over. 

We  were  to  leave  for  Copenliagen  the  next 
morning.    However,  at  ten  the  next  morning 
we  were  transferred  from  the  Abdiel  to  the 
Princess  Margaret,  a  Canadian  Eoyal  steamer 
w^hich  had  been  converted  into  a  mine-layer 
during  the  war,  and  had  come  into  the  harbor 
the  night  before,  on  her  way  to  Riga  with  a 
cargo  of  goods.    She  could  not  proceed  up  the 
river  because  of  the  firing.     English  officers 
and  all  were  transferred  to  this  ship,  because 
the  Ahdiel  was  not  leaving  and  there  was  no 
telling  when  the  Princess  Margaret  would 
leave.    For  three  days  we  were  kept  on  this 
boat.     During  this  time  more  than  a  hun- 
dred refugees  from  Riga  were  added  to  its 
list.    Eight  or  nine  British  cruisers  and  de- 
stroyers were  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Gulf, 
and  on  our  second  morning  on  the  Princess 
Margaret  we  learned  that  the  English  had 
given  the  Germans  until  that  time  to  evacuate 
their  positions,  after  which  they  would  open 
fire.     The    Germans   had   refused,    and   the 
bombarding  began.     The  Princess  Margaret 
stood  out  of  range,  but  we  could  see  with 
glasses  the  effects  of  the  bombardment,  which 
lasted  the  whole  afternoon,  until  finally  the 
German  guns  were  silenced   and  the  Letts 
crossed  the  river. 

That  evening  we  heard  that  the  destroyer 
Cleopatra    was    sailing    the    next    morning 


^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA"     155 

for  Copenhagen  and  England  and  would 
come  alongside  to  take  mail,  and  that  the 
English  officers  on  the  Princess  Margaret 
were  going  on  the  Cleopatra.  Farbman 
and  I  sent  Desmond  to  the  captain  to  get 
permission  for  us  to  go  also,  which  he  ob- 
tained after  some  persuasion.  The  others 
remained — and  may  be  there  still. 

At  eight  the  next  morning  the  Cleopatra 
came  toward  us,  but  the  sea  was  running  high 
and  she  could  not  approach  nearer  than  a 
hundred  yards.  A  lifeboat  was  lowered  from 
the  Princess,  our  baggage  thrown  in,  and  we 
descended  on  rope  ladders  to  the  swaying  and 
tossing  boat  below.  I  am  a  poor  swiimner 
and  the  brief  but  exciting  journey  to  the 
Cleopatra  was  occupied  in  meditation  on  my 
escape  from  shot  and  shell  only  to  be  drowned 
in  the  waters  of  the  Gulf. 

When  we  finally  reached  the  Cleopatra, 
I  was  prepared  for  more  delay,  any  amount 
of  delay.  I  had  grown  so  accustomed  to  it 
that  I  thought  it  would  save  my  nerves  from 
further  strain  to  take  it  for  granted.  How- 
ever we  started  almost  immediately.  This 
was  Friday  morning,  October  17th.  We 
reached  Copenhagen  Saturday,  October  18th, 
at  six  in  the  evening.  At  last  I  had  escaped 
the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  sound  of  bursting 
shells.  The  relief  and  the  peace  of  Copen- 
hagen could  only  be  compared  with  the  peace 
I  had  found  in  *' Barbarous  Soviet  Russia.'* 


APPENDIX 


157 


APPENDIX 


SOVIET  RUSSIA'S  CODE  OF  LABOR  LAWS 

I.  The  Code  of  Labor  Laws  shall  take  effect  im- 
mediately upon  its  publication  in  the  Compilation  of 
Laws  and  Regulations  of  the  Workmen's  and  Peasants* 
Government.  This  Code  must  be  extensively  circulated 
among  the  working  class  of  the  country  by  all  the  local 
organs  of  the  Soviet  Government  and  be  posted  in  a 
conspicuous  place  in  all  Soviet  Institutions. 

II.  The  regulations  of  the  Code  of  Labor  Laws  shall 
apply  to  all  persons  receiving  remuneration  for  their 
work  and  shall  be  obligatory  for  all  enterprises,  institu- 
tions and  establishments  (Soviet,  public,  private  and 
domestic),  as  well  as  for  aU  private  employers  exploiting 
labor. 

III.  All  existing  regulations  and  those  to  be  issued 
on  questions  of  labor,  of  a  general  character  (orders  of 
individual  establishments,  instructions,  rules  of  inter- 
nal management,  etc.),  as  well  as  individual  contracts 
and  agreements,  shall  be  valid  only  in  so  far  as  they 
do  not  conflict  with  this  Code. 

IV.  All  labor  agreements  previously  entered  into,  as 
well  as  all  those  which  will  be  entered  into  in  the  future, 
in  so  far  as  they  contradict  the  regulations  of  this  Code, 
shall  not  be  considered  valid  or  obligatory,  either  for 
the  employees  or  the  employers, 

V.  In.  enterprises  and  establishments  where  the  work 
is  carried- on  in  the  form  of  organized  cooperation  (Sec- 
tion 6,  Labor  Division  A  of  the  present  Code)  the  wage 
earners  must  be  allowed  the  widest  possible  self-govern- 
ment under  the  supervision  of  the  Central  Soviet  author- 
ities.   On  this  basis  alone  can  the  working  masses  be 

159 


160     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

successfully  educated  in  the  spirit  of  socialist  and  com- 
munal  government. 

VI.  The  labor  conditions  in  the  communal  enterprises 
organized  as  well  as  supported  by  the  Soviet  institutions 
(agricultural  and  other  communes)  are  regulated  by  spe- 
cial rules  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Executive  Commit- 
tee and  of  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars,  and  by 
instructions  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Agriculture 
and  Labor. 

The  labor  conditions  of  farmers  on  land  assigned  them 
for  cultivation  are  regulated  by  the  Code  of  Rural  Laws. 

The  labor  conditions  of  independent  artisans  are  regu- 
lated by  special  rules  of  the  Commissariat  of  Labor. 


ARTICLE  I 

ON   COMPULSORY   LABOR 

1.  All  citizens  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federated 
Soviet  Republic,  with  the  exceptions  stated  in  Sections  2 
and  3,  shall  be  subject  to  compulsory  labor. 

2.  The  following  persons  shall  be  exempt  from  com- 
pulsory labor: 

(a)  Persons  under  16  years  of  age; 
(&)  All  persons  over  50  years; 
(c)  Persons  who  have  become  incapacitated  by 
injury  or  illness. 

3.  Temporarily  exempt  from  compulsory  labor  are: 

(a)  Persons  who  are  temporarily  incapacitated 
owing  to  illness  or  injury,  for  a  period  necessary 
for  their  recovery. 

(&)  Women,  for  a  period  of  eight  weeks  before 
and  eight  weeks  after  confinement. 

4.  All  students  shall  be  subject  to  compulsory  labor 
at  the  schools. 

5.  The  fact  of  permanent  or  temporary  disability 


APPENDIX  161 

shall  be  certified  after  a  medical  examination  by  the 
Bureau  of  Medical  Survey  in  the  city,  district  or  prov- 
ince, by  accident  insurance  office  or  agencies  represent- 
ing the  former,  according  to  the  place  of  residence  of 
the  person  whose  disability  is  to  be  certified. 

Note  I.  The  rules  on  the  method  of  examination  of 
disabled  vt^orkmen  are  appended  hereto. 

Note  II.  Persons  who  are  subject  to  compulsory  labor 
and  are  not  engaged  in  useful  public  work  may  be  sum- 
moned by  the  local  Soviets  for  the  execution  of  public 
work,  on  conditions  determined  by  the  Department  of 
Labor  in  agreement  with  the  local  Soviets  of  trade 
unions. 

6.  Labor  may  be  performed  in  the  form  of-^ 

(a)  Organized  cooperation; 

(6)  Individual  personal  services; 

(c)  Individual  special  jobs. 

7.  Labor  conditions  in  government  (Soviet)  estab- 
lishments shall  be  regulated  by  tariff  rules  approved  by 
the  Central  Soviet  authorities  through  the  People's 
Commissariat  of  Labor. 

8.  Labor  conditions  in  all  establishments  (Soviet, 
nationalized,  public  and  private)  shall  be  regulated  by 
tariff  rules  drafted  by  the  trade  unions,  in  agreement 
with  the  directors  or  owners  of  establishments  and  en- 
terprises, and  approved  by  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor. 

Note.  In  cases  where  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  an 
understanding  with  the  directors  or  owners  of  establish- 
ments or  enterprises,  the  tariff  rules  shall  be  drawn  up 
by  the  trade  unions  and  submitted  for  approval  to  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 

9.  Labor  in  the  form  of  individual  personal  service 
or  in  the  form  of  individual  special  jobs  shall  be  regu- 
lated by  tariff  rules  drafted  by  the  respective  trade 
unions  and  approved  by  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor. 


162     *'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 
ARTICLE  II 

THE  RIGHT  TO  WORK 

10.  All  citizens  able  to  work  have  the  right  to  em- 
ployment at  their  vocations  and  for  remuneration  fixed 
for  such  class  of  work. 

Note.  The  District  Exchange  Bureaus  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  Distribution  may,  by  agreement  with  the 
respective  unions,  assign  individual  wage  earners  or 
groups  of  them  to  work  at  other  trades  if  there  is  no 
demand  for  labor  at  the  vocations  of  the  persons  in 
question. 

11.  The  right  to  work  belongs  first  of  all  to  those  who 
are  subject  to  compulsory  labor. 

12.  Of  the  classes  exempt  from  compulsory  labor, 
only  those  mentioned  in  subdivision  ''&"  of  Section  2 
have  a  right  to  work. 

13.  Those  mentioned  in  subdivisions  ''a^'  and  "c" 
of  Section  2  are  absolutely  deprived  of  the  right  to  work, 
and  those  mentioned  in  Section  3  temporarily  deprived 
of  the  right  to  work. 

14.  All  persons  of  the  female  sex,  and  those  of  the 
male  sex  under  18  years  of  age,  shall  have  no  right  to 
work  during  night  time  or  in  those  branches  of  industry 
where  the  conditions  of  labor  are  especially  hard  or 
dangerous. 

Note.  A  list  of  especially  hard  and  health-endanger- 
ing occupations  shall  be  prepared  by  the  Department 
of  Labor  Protection  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor,  and  shall  be  published  in  the  month  of  January 
of  each  year  in  the  Compilation  of  Laws  and  Regula- 
tions of  the  Workmen's  and  Peasants'  Government. 


APPENDIX  163 

ARTICLE  III 

METHODS  OF   LABOR   DISTRIBUTION 

15.  The  enforcement  of  the  right  to  work  shall  be 
secured  through  the  Departments  of  Labor  Distribution, 
trade  unions,  and  through  all  the  institutions  of  the 
Russian  Socialist  Federated  Soviet  Republic. 

16.  The  assignment  of  wage  earners  to  work  shall 
be  carried  out  through  the  Departments  of  Labor  Dis- 
tribution. 

17.  A  wage  earner  may  be  summoned  to  work,  save 
by  the  Departments  of  Labor  Distribution,  only  when 
chosen  for  a  position  by  a  Soviet  institution  or  enterprise. 

18.  Vacancies  may  be  filled  by  election  when  the 
work  offered  requires  political  reliability  or  unusual  spe- 
cial knowledge,  for  which  the  person  elected  is  noted. 

19.  Persons  engaged  for  work  by  election  must  regis- 
ter in  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribution  before  they 
are  accepted,  but  they  shall  not  be  subject  to  the  rules 
concerning  probation  set  forth  in  Article  IV  of  the 
present  Code. 

20.  Unemployed  persons  shall  be  assigned  to  work 
through  the  Departments  of  Labor  Distribution  in  the 
manner  stated  in  Sections  21-30. 

21.  A  wage  earner  who  is  not  engaged  on  work  at 
his  vocation  shall  register  in  the  local  Department  of 
Labor  Distribution  as  unemployed. 

22.  Establishments  and  individuals  in  need  of  work- 
ers should  apply  to  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Dis- 
tribution or  its  division  (Correspondence  Bureau)  stat- 
ing the  condition  of  the  work  offered  as  well  as  the  re- 
quirements which  the  workmen  must  meet  (trade,  knowl- 
edge, experience). 

23.  The  Department  of  Labor  Distribution,  on  re- 
ceipt of  the  application  mentioned  in  Section  22,  shall 


164    **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

assign  the  persons  meeting  the  requirements  thereof  in 
the  order  determined  by  the  same. 

24.  An  unemployed  person  has  no  right  to  refuse  an 
offer  of  work  at  his  vocation,  provided  the  working  con- 
ditions conform  with  the  standards  fixed  by  the  respec- 
tive tariff  regulations,  or  in  the  absence  of  the  same  by 
the  trade  unions. 

25.  A  wage  worker  engaged  for  work  for  a  period  of 
not  more  than  two  weeks,  shall  be  considered  unem- 
ployed, and  shall  not  lose  his  place  on  the  list  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  Distribution. 

26.  Should  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Distribu- 
tion have  no  workers  on  its  lists  meeting  the  stated 
requirements,  the  application  must  be  immediately  sent 
to  the  District  Exchange  Bureau,  and  the  establishment 
or  individual  offering  the  employment  shall  be  simulta- 
neously notified  to  this  effect. 

27.  Whenever  workers  are  required  for  work  outside 
of  their  district,  a  roll-call  of  the  unemployed  registered 
in  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribution  shall  take  place, 
to  ascertain  who  are  willing  to  go ;  if  a  sufiicient  number 
of  such  should  not  be  found,  the  Department  of  Labor 
Distribution  shall  assign  the  lacking  number  from  among 
the  unemployed  in  the  order  of  their  registration,  pro- 
vided that  those  who  have  dependents  must  not  be  given 
preference,  before  single  persons. 

28.  If  in  the  Departments  of  Labor  Distribution, 
within  the  limits  of  the  district,  there  be  no  workmen 
meeting  the  requirements,  the  District  Exchange  Bureau 
has  the  right,  upon  agreement  with  the  respective  trade 
union,  to  send  unemployed  of  another  class  approaching 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  trade  required. 

29.  An  unemployed  person  who  is  offered  work  out- 
side his  vocation  shall  be  obliged  to  accept  it,  on  the  un- 
derstanding, if  he  so  wishes,  that  this  be  only  temporary, 
until  he  receives  work  at  his  vocation. 

30.  A  wage  earner  who  is  working  outside  his  spe- 


APPENDIX  165 

cialty,  and  who  has  stated  his  wish  that  this  be  only 
temporary,  shall  retain  his  place  on  the  register  on  the 
Department  of  Labor  Distribution  until  he  gets  work 
at  his  vocation. 

31.  Private  individuals  violating  the  rules  of  labor 
distribution  set  forth  in  this  article  shall  be  punished  by 
the  order  of  the  local  board  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  Distribution  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  300  rubles 
or  by  arrest  for  not  less  than  one  week.  Soviet  estab- 
lishments and  officials  violating  these  rules  on  labor  dis- 
tribution shall  be  liable  to  criminal  prosecution. 

ARTICLE  IV 

PROBATION    PERIODS 

32.  Final  acceptance  of  workers  for  permanent  em- 
ployment shall  be  preceded  by  a  period  of  probation  of 
not  more  than  six  days;  in  Soviet  institutions  the  pro- 
bation period  shall  be  two  weeks  for  unskilled  and  less 
responsible  work  and  one  month  for  skilled  and  respon- 
sible work. 

33.  According  to  th^  results  of  the  probation  the 
wage  earner  shall  either  be  given  a  permanent  appoint- 
ment, or  rejected  with  payment  for  the  period  of  pro- 
bation in  accordance  with  the  tariff  rates. 

34.  The  results  of  the  probation  (acceptance  or  re- 
jection) shall  be  communicated  to  the  Department  of 
Labor  Distribution. 

35.  Up  to  the  expiration  of  the  probation*  period,  the 
wage  earner  shall  be  considered^  as  unemployed,  and 
shall  retain  his  place  on  the  eligible  list  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  Distribution. 

36.  A  person  who,  after  probation,  has  been  rejected, 
may  appeal  against  this  decision  to  the  union  of  which 
he  is  a  member. 

37.  Should  the  trade  union  consider  the  appeal  men- 


166     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

tioned  in  the  preceding  section  justified,  it  shall  enter 
into  negotiations  with  the  establishment  or  person  who 
has  rejected  the  wage  earner,  with  the  request  to  accept 
the  complainant. 

38.  In  ease  of  failure  of  negotiations  mentioned  in 
Section  37,  the  matter  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Local 
Department  of  Labor,  whose  decision  shall  be  final  and 
subject  to  no  further  appeal.   - 

39.  The  Department  of  Labor  may  demand  that  the 
person  or  establishment  provide  with  work  the  wage 
earner  who  has  been  rejected  without  sufficient  reason. 
Furthermore,  it  may  demand  that  the  said  person 
or  establishment  compensate  the  wage  earner  according 
to  the  tariff  rates  for  the  time  lost  between  his  rejection 
and  his  acceptance  pursuant  to  the  decision  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor. 

ARTICLE  V 

TRANSFER  AND  DISCHARGE  OP  WAGE  EARNERS 

40.  The  transfer  of  wage  earners  in  all  enterprises, 
establishments,  or  institutions  employing  paid  labor,  can 
take  place  only  if  it  is  required  in  the  interest  of  the 
business  and  by  the  decision  of  the  proper  organ  of 
management. 

Note.  This  rule  does  not  apply  to  work  with  private 
individuals  employing  paid  labor,  if  the  work  is  of  the 
subdivisions  mentioned  in  "&"  and  "c"  of  Section  6. 

41.  The  transfer  of  a  wage  earner  to  bther  work  with- 
in the  enterprise*,  establishment  or  institution  where  he  is 
employed  may  be  ordered  by  the  managing  organs  of 
said  enterprise,  establishment  or  institution. 

42.  The  transfer  of  a  wage  earner  to  another  enter- 
prise, establishment  or  institution  situated  in  the  same 
or  in  another  locality,  may  be  ordered  by  the  corres- 
ponding organr  of  management  with  the  consent  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  Distribution. 


APPENDIX  167 

43.  The  order  of  an  organ  of  management  to  trans- 
fer a  wage  earner  as  mentioned  in  Section  40  may  be 
appealed  from  to  the  respective  Department  of  Labor 
(local  or  district)  by  the  interested  individuals  or  or- 
ganizations. 

44.  The  decision  of  the  Department  of  Labor  in  the 
matter  of  the  transfer  of  a  wage  earner  may  be  appealed 
from  by  the  interested  parties  to  the  District  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  or  to  the  People 's  Commissariat  of  Labor, 
whose  decision  in  the  matter  in  dispute  is  final  and 
not  subject  to  further  appeal. 

45.  In  case  of  urgent  public  work  the  District  De- 
partment of  Labor  may,  in  agreement  with  the  respec- 
tive professional  unions  and  with  the  approval  of  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor,  order  tlie  transfer  of 
a  whole  group  of  wage  earners  from  the  organization 
where  they  are  employed  to  another  situated  in  the 
same  or  in  another  locality,  provided  a  sufficient 
number  of  volunteers  for  such  work  cannot  be  found. 

46.  The  discharge  of  wage  earners  from  an  enter- 
prise, establishment  or  institution  where  they  have  been 
employed  is  permissible  in  the  following  cases: 

(a)  In  case  of  complete  or  partial  liquidation 
of  the  enterprise,  establishment  or  institution,  or 
of  cancellation  of  certain  orders  or  work; 

(6)  In  case  of  suspension  of  work  for  more  than 
a  month; 

(c)  In  case  of  expiration  of  term  of  employment 
or  of  completion  of  the  job,  if  the  work  was  of  a 
temporary  character; 

{d)  In  case  of  evident  unfitness  for  work,  by 
special  decision  of  the  organs  of  management  and 
subject  to  agreement  with  the  respective  profes- 
sional unions. 

(e)  By  request  of  the  wage  earner. 


168     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

47.  The  organ  of  management  of  the  enterprise,  es- 
tablishment or  institution  where  a  wage  earner  is  em- 
ployed, or  the  person  for  whom  a  wage  earner  is  work- 
ing must  give  the  wage  earner  two  weeks'  notice  of  the 
proposed  discharge,  for  the  reasons  mentioned  in  '*a,'' 
"&"  and  "c^"  of  Section  46,  notifying  simultaneously 
the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Distribution. 

48.  A  wage  earner  discharged  for  the  reasons  men- 
tioned in  subdivisions  "a,"  "h"  and  *'d"  of  Section  46 
shall  be  considered  unemployed  and  entered  as  such 
on  the  lists  of  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribution 
and  shall  continue  to  perform  his  work  until  the  expira- 
tion of  the  term  of  two  weeks  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
section. 

49.  The  order  to  discharge  an  employee  for  the  rea- 
sons mentioned  in  subdivisions  "a,"  *'&"  and  "(Z" 
of  Section  46  may  be  appealed  from  by  the  interested 
persons  to  the  Local  Department  of  Labor. 

50.  The  decision  of  the  Local  Department  of  Labor 
on  the  question  of  discharge  may  be  appealed  from  by 
either  party  to  the  District  Department  of  Labor,  whose 
decision  on  the  question  in  dispute  is  final  and  not 
subject  to  further  appeal. 

51.  Discharge  by  request  of  the  wage  earner  from 
enterprise,  establishment  or  institution  must  be  preceded 
by  an  examination  of  the  reasons  for  the  resignation 
by  the  respective  organ  of  workmen's  self-government 
(works  and  other  committees). 

Note.  This  rule  does  not  apply  to  the  resignation 
of  a  wage  earner  employed  by  an  individual,  if  the 
work  is  of  the  character  mentioned  in  subdivisions  "h" 
and  "c"  of  Section  6. 

52.  If  the  organ  of  workers'  self-government  (works 
or  other  committee)  after  investigating  the  reasons 
for  the  resignation  finds  the  resignation  unjustified  the 
wage  earner  must  remain  at  work,  but  may  appeal  from 


APPENDIX  169 

the  decision  of  the  Committee  to  the  respective  profes- 
sional union. 

53.  A  wage  earner  who  quits  work  contrary  to  the 
decision  of  the  Committee,  pursuant  to  Section  52,  shall 
forfeit  for  one  week  the  right  to  register  with  the  De- 
partment of  Labor  Distribution. 

54.  Institutions  and  persons  employing  paid  labor 
shall  inform  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Distribu- 
tion and  the  respective  professional  union  of  each  wage 
earner  who  quits  work,  stating  the  date  and  the  reason 
thereof. 

ARTICLE  VI 

REMUNERATION   OF   LABOR 

55.  The  remuneration  of  wage  earners  for  work 
in  enterprises,  establishments  and  institutions  employ- 
ing paid  labor,  and  the  detailed  conditions  and  order 
of  payment  shall  be  fixed  by  tariffs  worked  out  for 
each  kind  of  labor  in  the  manner  described  in  Sections 
7-9  of  the  present  Code. 

56.  All  institutions  working  out  the  tariff  rates 
must  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  article  of  the 
Code  of  Labor  Laws. 

57.  In  working  out  the  tariff  rates  and  determining 
the  standard  remuneration  rates,  all  the  wage  earners 
of  a  trade  shall  be  divided  into  groups  and  categories 
and  a  definite  standard  of  remuneration  shall  be  fixed 
for  each  of  them. 

58.  The  standard  of  remuneration  fixed  by  the  tariff 
rates  must  be  at  least  sufficient  to  cover  the  minimum 
living  expenses  as  determined  by  the  People's  Commis- 
sariat of  Labor  for  each  district  of  the  Russian  Socialist 
Federated  Soviet  Republic  and  published  in  the  Com- 
pilation of  Laws  and  Regulations  of  the  Workmen's  and 
peasants'  Government. 


170     *'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  KUSSIA'» 

59.  In  determinmg  the  standard  of  remuneration 
for  each  group  and  category  attention  shall  be  given 
to  the  kind  of  labor,  the  danger  of  the  conditions,  under 
which  the  work  is  performed,  the  complexity  and  ac- 
curacy of  the  work,  the  degree  of  independence  and 
responsibility  as  well  as  the  standard  of  education  and 
experience  required  for  the  performance  of  the  work. 

60.  The  remuneration  of  each  wage  earner  shall  be 
determined  by  his  classification  in  a  definite  group  and 
category. 

61.  The  classification  of  wage  earners  into  groups 
and  categories  within  each  branch  of  labor  shall  be 
done  by  special  valuation  commissions,  local  and  cen- 
tral, established  by  the  respective  professional  organi- 
zations. 

Note.  The  procedure  of  the  valuation  commissions 
shall  be  determined  by  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor. 

62.  The  tariff  regulations  shall  fix  the  standard  of 
remuneration  for  a  normal  working  day  or  for  piece- 
work, and  particularly  the  remuneration  for  overtime 
work. 

63.  Remuneration  for  piece-work  shall  be  computed 
by  dividing  the  daily  tariff  rate  by  the  number  of  pieces 
constituting  the  production  standard. 

64.  The  standard  of  remuneration  fixed  for  overtime 
work  shall  not  exceed  time  and  a  half  of  the  normal  re- 
muneration. 

65.  Excepting  the  remuneration  paid  for  overtime 
work  done  in  the  same  or  in  a  different  branch  of  labor, 
no  additional  remuneration  in  excess  of  the  standard 
fixed  for  a  given  group  and  category  shall  be  permitted, 
irrespective  of  the  pretext  and  form  under  which  it 
might  be  offered  and  whether  it  be  paid  in  only  one  or 
in  several  places  of  employment. 

66.  Persons  working  in  several  places  must  state  in 


APPENDIX  171 

which  place  of  employment  they  wish  to  receive  their 
pay. 

67.  Persons  receiving  excessive  remuneration,  in 
violation  of  Section  65,  shall  be  liable  to  criminal  prose- 
cution for  fraud,  and  the  remuneration  received  in  ex- 
cess of  the  normal  (standard)  may  be  deducted  from 
subsequent  payments. 

68.  From  the  remuneration  of  the  wage  earner  may 
be  deducted  the  excess  remuneration  received  in  viola- 
tion) of  Section  65,  and  the  remuneration  earned  by  thf 
wage  earner  during  his  vacation;  deduction  may  also 
be  made  for  cessation  of  work. 

69.  No  other  deductions,  except  those  mentioned  in 
Section  68,  shall  be  permitted,  irrespective  of  the  form 
or  pretext  under  which  they  might  be  made. 

70.  Payment  of  remuneration  must  not  be  made  in 
advance. 

71.  If  the  work  is  steady,  payment  for  the  same  must 
be  made  periodically,  at  least  once  in  every  fortnight. 
Remuneration  for  temporary  work  and  for  special  jobs 
provided  the  same  continues  at  least  for  two  weeks, 
shall  be  paid  immediately  upon  completion  of  work. 

72.  Payments  shall  be  made  in  money  or  in  kind 
(lodgings,  food  supplies,  etc.) 

73.  To  make  payments  in  kind  special  permission 
must  be  obtained  from  the  Local  Department  of  Labor 
which  shall  determine  the  rates  jointly  with  the  respec- 
tive trade  unions. 

Note.  The  rates  thus  determined  must  be  based  on 
the  standard  prices  fixed  by  the  respective  institutions 
of  the  Soviet  authority  (valuation  commissions  of  the 
Commissariat  of  Victuals,  Land  and  Housing  Depart- 
ment, Price  Committee,  etc.) 

74.  Payments  must  take  place  during  working  hours. 

75.  Payments  must  be  made  at  the  place  of  work. 

76.  The  wage  earner  shall  be  paid  only  for  actual 
work  done.    If  a  cessation  of  work  is  caused  during 


172     ''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

the  working  day  by  circumstances  beyond  the  control 
of  the  wage  earner  (through  accident  or  through  the 
fault  of  the  administration),  he  shall  be  paid  for  the 
time  lost  on  the  basis  of  the  daily  tariff  rates,  if  he  doea 
time  work,  or  on  the  basis  of  his  average  daily  earn- 
ing, i:^  he  does  piece-work. 

77.  A  wage  earner  shall  be  paid  his  wage  during 
leave  of  absence  (Sections  106-107). 

78.  During  illness  of  a  wage  earner  the  remunera- 
tion due  him  shall  be  paid  as  a  subsidy  from  the  hospi- 
tal funds. 

Note.  The  manner  of  payment  of  the  subsidy  is  fixed 
by  rules  appended  hereto. 

79.  Unemployed  shall  receive  a  subsidy  out  of  the 
funds  for  unemployed. 

Note.  Rules  concerning  unemployed  and  the  pay- 
ment of  subsidies  to  them  are  appended  hereto. 

80.  Every  wage  earner  must  have  a  labor  booklet 
in  which  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  work  done  by 
him  as  well  as  the  payments  and  subsidies  received 
by  him  are  entered. 

Note.  Rules  regarding  labor  booklets  for  wage  earn- 
ers are  appended  hereto. 


ARTICLE  VII 

WORKING        HOURS 

81.  Working  hours  are  regulated  by  the  tariff  rules 
made  for  each  kind  of  labor,  in  the  manner  described 
in  Sections  7-9  of  the  present  Code. 

82.  The  rules  for  working  hours  must  conform  with 
the  provisions  of  this  article  of  the  Code  of  Labor  Laws. 

83.  A  normal  working  day  shall  mean  the  time  fixed 
by  the  tariff  regulations  for  the  production  of  a  certain 
amount  of  work. 


APPENDIX  173 

84.  The  duration  of  a  normal  working  day  must  in 
no  case  exceed  eight  hours  for  day  work  and  seven  hours 
for  night  work. 

85.  The  duration  of  a  normal  day  must  not  exceed 
six  hours:  (a)  for  persons  under  18  years  of  age,  and 
(&)  in  especially  hard  or  health-endangering  branches 
of  industry  (note  Section  14  of  the  present  Code). 

86.  During  the  normal  working  day  time  must  be 
allowed  for  meals  and  for  rest. 

87.  During  recess  machines,  beltings  and  lathes  must 
be  stopped,  unless  this  be  impossible  owing  to  technical 
conditions  or  in  cases  where  these  machines,  beltings, 
etc.,  serve  for  ventilation,  drainage,  lighting,  etc. 

88.  The  time  of  recess  fixed  by  Section  86  is  not 
included  in  the  working  hours. 

89.  The  recess  must  take  place  not  later  than  four 
hours  after  the  beginning  of  the  working  day,  and  must 
continue  not  less  than  a  half  hour  and  not  more  than 
two  hours. 

Noie.  Additional  intermissions  every  three  hours, 
and  for  not  less  than  a  half  hour,  must  be  allowed  for 
working  women  nursing  children. 

90.  The  wage  earners  may  use  their  free  time  at 
their  own  discretion.  They  shall  be  allowed  during  re- 
cess to  leave  the  place  of  work. 

91.  In  case  the  nature  of  the  work  is  such  that  it 
requires  a  working  day  in  excess  of  the  normal,  two 
or  more  shifts  shall  be  engaged. 

92.  Where  there  are  several  shifts,  each  shift  shall 
work  the  normal  working  hours;  the  change  of  shifts 
must  take  place  during  the  time  fixed  by  the  rules  of 
the  internal  management  without  interfering  with  the 
normal  course  of  work. 

93.  As  a  general  rule,  work  in  excess  of  the  normal 
hours  (overtime  work)  shall  not  be  permitted. 

94.  Overtime  work  may  be  permitted  in  the  follow- 
ing exceptional  cases: 


17-4    <'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  ETJSSIA'* 

(a)  Where  the  work  is  necessary  for  the  pre- 
vention of  a  public  calamity  or  in  case  the  existence 
•    of  the  Soviet  Government  of  the  R.  S.  F.  S.  R.  or 
human  life  is  endangered; 

(&)  An  emergency,  public  work  in  relation  to 
water  supply,  lighting,  sewerage  or  transportation, 
in  case  of  accident  or  extraordinary  interruption  of 
their  regular  operation; 

(c)  When  it  is  necessary  to  complete  work  which, 
owing  to  unforeseen  or  accidental  delay  due  to 
technical  condition  of  production,  could  not  be 
completed  during  the  normal  working  hours.  If 
leaving  the  work  uncompleted  would  cause  damage 
to  materials  or  machinery ; 

(d)  On  repairs  or  renewal  of  machine  parts  or 
construction  work,  wherever  necessary  to  prevent 
stoppage  of  work  by  a  considerable  number  of  wage 
earners. 

95.  In  the  case  described  in  subdivision  "c"  of 
Section  94,  overtime  work  is  permissible  only  with  the 
consent  of  the  respective  trade  union. 

96.  For  overtime  work  described  in  subdivision  **d" 
of  Section  94,  permission  must  be  obtained  from  the  lo- 
cal labor  inspector,  in  addition  to  the  permit  mentioned 
in  the  preceding  section. 

97.  No  females  and  no  males  under  18  years  of  age 
may  do  any  overtime  work. 

98.  The  time  spent  on  overtime  work  in  the  course 
of  two  consecutive  days  must  not  exceed  four  hours. 

99.  No  overtime  work  shall  be  permitted  to  make  up 
for  a  wage  earner's  tardiness  in  reporting  at  his  place 
of  work. 

100.  All  overtime  work  done  by  a  wage  earner,  as 
well  as  the  remuneration  received  by  him  for  the  same, 
must  be  recorded  in  his  labor  booklet. 

101.  The  total  number  of  days  on  which  overtime 
may  be  permitted  in  any  enterprise,  establishment  or 


APPENDIX  175 

institution  must  not  exceed  50  days  per  annum,  includ- 
ing such  days  when  only  one  wage  earner  worked  over- 
time. 

102.  Every  enterprise,  establishment  or  institution 
must  keep  a  special  record  book  for  overtime  work, 

103.  All  wage  earners  must  be  allowed  a  weekly  un- 
interrupted rest  of  not  less  than  42  hours. 

104.  No  work  shall  be  done  on  specially  designated 
holidays. 

Note.  Rules  concerning  holidays  and  days  of  weekly 
rest  are  appended  hereto. 

105.  On  the  eve  of  rest  days  the  normal  working  day 
shall  be  reduced  by  two  hours. 

Note.  This  section  shall  not  apply  to  institutions  and 
enterprises  where  the  working  day  does  not  exceed  six 
hours. 

106.  Every  wage  earner  who  has  worked  without  in- 
terruption not  less  than  six  months  shall  be  entitled  to 
leave  of  absence  for  two  weeks,  irrespective  of  whether 
he  worked  in  only  one  or  in  several  enterprises,  estab- 
lishments or  institutions. 

107.  Every  wage  earner  who  has  worked  without  in- 
terruption not  less  than  a  year  shall  be  entitled  to  leave 
of  absence  for  one  month,  irrespective  of  whether  he 
worked  in  only  one  or  in  several  enterprises,  establish- 
ments or  institutions. 

Note.  Sections  106  and  107  shall  take  effect  begin- 
ning January  1,  1919. 

108.  Leave  of  absence  may  be  granted  during  the 
whole  year,  provided  that  the  same  does  not  interfere 
with  the  normal  course  of  work  in  enterprise,  establish- 
ment or  institution. 

109.  The  time  and  order  in  which  leave  of  absence 
may  be  granted  shall  be  determined  by  agreement 
between  the  management  of  enterprise,  establishment  or 
institution  and  proper  self-government  bodies  of  the 
wage  earners  (works  and  other  committees). 


176     ^'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

110.  A  wage  earner  shall  not  be  allowed  to  work  for 
remuneration  during  his  leave  of  absence. 

111.  The  remuneration  of  a  wage  earner  earned  dur- 
ing his  leave  of  absence  shall  be  deducted  from  his  regu- 
lar wages. 

112.  The  absence  of  a  wage  earner  from  work  caused 
by  special  circumstances  and  permitted  by  the  manager 
shall  not  be  counted  as  leave  of  absence ;  the  wage  earner 
shall  not  be  paid  for  the  working  hours  lost  in  such 
cases. 

ARTICLE  VIII 

METHODS  TO  ASSURE  EFFICIENCY  OP  LABOR 

113.  In  order  to  assure  efficiency  of  labor,  every 
wage  earner  working  in  an  enterprise,  establishment 
or  institution  (governmental,  public  or  private)  em- 
ploying labor  in  the  form  of  organized  collaboration, 
as  well  as  th«  administration  of  the  enterprise,  estab- 
lishment or  institution,  shall  strictly  observe  the  rules 
of  this  article  of  the  Code  relative  to  standards  of  effici- 
ency, output  and  rules  of  internal  management. 

114.  Every  wage  earner  must  during  a  normal  work- 
ing day  and  under  normal  working  conditions  perform 
the  standard  amount  of  work  fixed  for  the  category  and 
group  in  which  he  is  enrolled. 

Note.  Normal  conditions  referred  to  in  this  section, 
shall  mean: 

(a)  Good  condition  of  machines,  lathes  and  ac- 
cessories ; 

(6)  Timely  delivery  of  materials  and  tools  neces- 
Bary  for  the  performance  of  the  work ; 

(c)  Good  quality  of  materials  and  tools; 

{d)  Proper  hygienic  and  sanitary  equipment  of 
the  building  where  the  work  is  performed  (neces- 
sary lighting,  heating,  etc.). 


APPENDIX  177 

115.  The  standard  output  for  wage  earners  of  each 
trade  and  of  each  group  and  category  shall  be  fixed  by- 
valuation  commissions  of  the  respective  trade  unions 
(Section  62.) 

116.  In  determining  the  standard  output  the  valua- 
tion commission  shall  take  into  consideration  the  quan- 
tity of  products  usually  turned  out  in  the  course  of 
a  normal  working  day  and  under  normal  technical  con- 
ditions by  the  wage  earners  of  the  particular  trade 
group  and  category. 

117.  The  production  standards  of  output  adopted  by 
the  valuation  commission  must  be  approved  by  the 
proper  Department  of  Labor  jointly  with  the  Council 
of  National  Economy. 

118.  A  wage  earner  systematically  producing  less 
than  the  fixed  standard  may  be  transferred  by  decision 
of  the  proper  valuation  commission  to  other  work  in  the 
same  group  and  category,  or  to  a  lower  group  or  cate- 
gory, with  a  corresponding  reduction  of  wages. 

Note.  The  wage  earner  may  appeal  from  the  decis- 
ion to  transfer  him  to  a  lower  group  or  category  with 
a  reduction  of  wages,  to  the  Local  Department  of  Labor 
and  from  the  decision  of  the  latter  to  the  District  De- 
partment of  Labor,  whose  decision  shall  be  final  and 
not  subject  to  further  appeal. 

119.  If  a  wage  earner's  failure  to  maintain  the  stand- 
ard output  be  due  to  lack  of  good  faith  and  to  negligence 
on  his  part,  he  may  be  discharged  in  the  manner  set 
fortl^  in  subdivision  '*<Z"  of  Section  46  without  the  two 
weeks'  notice  prescribed  by  Section  47. 

120.  The  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy 
jointly  with  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  may 
direct  a  general  increase  or  decrease  of  the  standards 
of  efficiency  and  output  for  all  wage  earners  and  for 
all  enterprises,  establishments  and  institutions  of 
a  given  district. 

121.  In  addition  to  the  regulations  of  the  present 


178     '^BAKBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

article  relative  to  standards  of  efficiency  and  output  in 
enterprises,  establishments  and  institutions,  efficiency 
of  labor  shall  be  secured  by  rules  of  internal  manage- 
ment. 

122.  The  rules  of  internal  management  in  Soviet  in- 
stitutions shall  be  made  by  the  organs  of  Soviet  author- 
ity with  the  approval  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor  or  its  local  departments. 

123.  The  rules  of  internal  management  in  indus- 
trial enterprises  and  establishments  (Soviet,  national- 
ized, private  and  public)  shall  be  made  by  the  trade 
unions  and  certified  by  the  proper  Departments  of  La- 
bor. 

124.  The  rules  of  internal  management  must  include 
clear,  precise  and,  as  far  as  possible,  exhaustive  direc- 
tions in  relation  to — 

(a)  The  general  obligations  of  all  wage  earners 
(careful  handling  of  all  materials  and  tools,  com- 
pliance with  instructions  of  the  managers  regarding 
performance  of  work,  observance  of  the  fixed  stand- 
ard of  working  hours,  etc.)  ; 

(&)  The  special  duties  of  the  wage  earners  of 
the  particular  branch  of  industry  (careful  hand- 
ling of  the  fire  in  enterprises  using  inflammable 
materials,  observance  of  special  cleanliness  in  en- 
terprises producing  food  products,  etc.) ; 

(c)  The  limits  and  manner  of  liability  for  breach 
of  the  above  duties  mentioned  above  in  subdivisions 
'*o"and"6." 

125.  The  enforcement  of  the  rules  of  internal  man- 
agement in  Soviet  institutions  is  entrusted  to  the  re- 
sponsible managers. 

126.  The  enforcement  of  the  rules  of  internal  man- 
agement in  industrial  enterprises  and  establishments 
(Soviet,  nationalized,  public  or  private)  is  entrusted  to 
the  self-government  bodies  of  the  wage  earners  (works 
or  similar  committees). 


APPENDIX  179 

ARTICLE  IX 

PROTECTION    OP    LABOR 

127.  The  protection  of  life,  health  and  labor  of  per- 
sons engaged  in  any  economic  activity  is  entrusted  to  the 
labor  inspection — the  technical  inspectors  and  the  rep- 
resentatives of  sanitary  inspection. 

128.  The  labor  inspection  is  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  and  its  local 
branches  (Department  of  Labor)  and  is  composed  of 
elected  labor  inspectors. 

129.  Labor  inspectors  shall  be  elected  by  the  Coun- 
cils of  Professional  Unions. 

Note  I.  The  manner  of  election  of  labor  inspectors 
shall  be  determined  by  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor. 

Note  II.  In  districts  where  there  is  no  Council  of 
Trade  Unions,  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  shall 
summon  a  conference  of  representatives  of  the  trade 
unions  which  shall  elect  the  labor  inspectors. 

130.  In  performing  the  duties  imposed  upon  them 
concerning  the  protection  of  the  lives  and  health  of 
wage  earners  the  officers  of  labor  inspection  shall  en- 
force the  regulations  of  the  present  Code,  and  decrees, 
instructions,  orders  and  other  acts  of  the  Soviet  power 
intended  to  safeguard  the  lives  and  health  of  the 
workers. 

131.  For  the  attainment  of  the  purposes  stated  in 
Section  130  the  officers  of  labor  inspection  are  auth- 
orized— 

(a)  To  visit  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  night 
all  the  industrial  enterprises  of  their  districts  and 
all  places  where  work  is  carried  on,  as  well  as  the 
buildings  provided  for  the  workmen  by  the  enter- 
prise (rooming  houses,  hospitals,  asylums,  baths, 
etc.) ; 


180     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

(6)  To  demand  of  the  managers  of  enterprises 
or  establishments,  as  well  as  of  the  elective  organs 
of  the  wage  earners  (works  and  similar  commit- 
tees) of  those  enterprises  or  establishments  in  the 
management  of  which  they  are  participating,  to 
produce  all  necessary  books,  records  and  informa- 
tion; 

(c)  To  draw  to  the  work  of  inspection  represen- 
tatives of  the  elective  organizations  of  employees, 
as  well  as  officials  of  the  administration  (managers, 
superintendents,  foremen,  etc.) ; 

(d)  To  bring  before  the  criminal  court  all  vio- 
lators of  the  regulations  of  the  present  Code,  or  of 
the  decrees,  instructions,  orders  and  other  acts  of 
the  Soviet  authority  intended  to  safeguard  the  lives 
and  health  of  the  wage  earners ; 

(e)  To  assist  the  trade  unions  and  works  com- 
mittees in  their  efforts  to  ameliorate  the  labor  con- 
dition in  individual  enterprises  as  well  as  in  whole 
branches  of  industry. 

132.  The  officers  of  labor  inspection  are  authorized  to 
adopt  special  measures,  in  addition  to  the  measures 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  section,  for  the  removal  of 
conditions  endangering  the  lives  and  health  of  workmen, 
even  if  such  measures  have  not  been  provided  for  by 
any  particular  law  or  regulation,  instructions  or  order 
of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  or  of  the  Local 
Department  of  Labor. 

Note.  Upon  taking  special  measures  to  safeguard  the 
lives  and  health  of  wage  earners,  as  authorized  by  the 
present  section,  the  officers  of  inspection  shall  imme- 
diately report  to  the  Local  Department  of  Labor,  which 
may  either  approve  these  measures  or  reject  them. 

133.  The  scope  and  the  forms  of  activity  of  the  or- 
gans of  labor  inspection  shall  be  determined  by  in- 
structions and  orders  issued  by  the  People's  Commis- 
sariat of  Labor. 


APPENDIX  18] 

134.  The  enforcement  of  the  instructions,  rules  and 
reflations  relating  to  safety  is  entrusted  to  the  techni- 
cal inspectors. 

135.  The  technical  inspectors  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  Local  Departments  of  Labor  from  among  engineer- 
ing specialists;  these  inspectors  shall  perform  within 
the  territory  under  their  jurisdiction  the  duties  pre- 
scribed by  Section  31  of  the  present  Code. 

136.  The  technical  inspectors  shall  be  guided  in  their 
activity,  besides  the  general  regulations,  by  the  instruc- 
tions and  orders  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor 
and  by  the  instructions  issued  by  the  technical  division 
of  the  Local  Department  of  Labor. 

137.  The  activity  of  the  sanitary  inspection  shall  be 
determined  by  instructions  issued  by  the  People's  Com- 
missariat of  Health  Protection  in  conference  with  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 


APPENDIX  TO  SECTION  79  . 

RULES      CONCERNING      UNEMPLOYED      AND      PAYMENT      OF 
SUBSIDIES 

1.  An  "unemployed"  shall  mean  every  citizen  of  the 
Russian  Socialist  Federated  Soviet  Republic  subject  to 
labor  duty  who  is  registered  with  the  Local  Department 
of  Labor  Distribution  as  being  out  of  work  at  his  voca- 
tion or  at  the  remuneration  fixed  by  the  proper  tariff. 

2.  An  "unemployed"  shall  likewise  mean: 

(a)  Any  person  who  has  obtained  employment 
•for  a  term  not  exceeding  two  weeks  (Section  25 
of  the  present  Code)  ; 

(&)  Any  person  who  is  temporarily  employed 
outside  his  vocation,  until  he  shall  obtain  work  at 
his  vocation  (Sections  29  and  30  of  the  present 
Code). 


182     ^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

3.  The  rights  of  unemployed  shall  not  be  extended — 

(a)  To  persons  who  in  violation  of  Sections  2, 
24  and  29  of  the  present  Code,  have  evaded  the 
labor  duty,  and  refused  work  offered  to  them; 

(6)  To  persons  npit  registered  as  unemployed 
with  the  Local  Department  of  Labor  Distribution 
(Section  21  of  the  present  Code) ; 

(c)  To  persons  who  have  wilfully  quit  work,  for 
the  term  specified  in  Section  54  of  the  present  Code. 

4.  All  persons  described  in  Section  1  and  subdivision 
"6"  of  Section  2  of  these  rules  shall  be  entitled  to  per- 
manent employment  (for  a  term  exceeding  two  weeks) 
at  their  vocations  in  the  order  of  priority  determined 
by  the  list  of  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribution  for 
each  vocation-. 

5.  Persons  described  in  Section  1  and  subdivision 
"6"  of  Article  2  of  these  rules  shall  be  entitled  to  a 
subsidy  from  the  local  fund  for  unemployed. 

6.  The  subsidy  to  unemployed  provided  in  Section 
1  of  the  present  rules  shall  be  equal  to  the  remunera- 
tion fixed  by  the  tariff  for  the  group  and  category  on 
which  the  wage  earner  was  assigned  by  the  valuation 
commission   (Section  61.) 

Note.  In  exceptional  eases  the  People's  Commissariat 
of  Labor  may  reduce  the  unemployed  subsidy  to  the 
minimum  of  living  expenses  as  determined  for  the  dis- 
trict in  question. 

7.  A  wage  earner  employee^  temporarily  outside  of 
his  vocation  (Subdivision  "fc"  of  Seciion  2)  shall  re- 
ceive a  subsidy  equal  to  the  differences  between  the  re- 
muneration fixed  for  the  group  and  category  in  which 
he  is  enrolled  and  his  actual  remuneration,  in  case  the 
latter  be  less  than  the  former. 

8.  An  unemployed  who  desires  to  avail  himself  of 
his  right  to  a  subsidy  shall  apply  to  the  local  funds  for 
unemployed  and  shall  present  the  following  documents: 


APPENDIX  183 

(a)  his  registration  card  from  the  Local  Department 
of  Labor  Distribution;  and  (&)  a  certificate  of  the  valua- 
tion commission  showing  his  assignment  to  a  definite 
group  and  category  of  wage  earners. 

9.  Before  paying  the  subsidy  the  local  funds  for  un- 
employed shall  ascertain,  through  the  Department  of 
Labor  Distribution  and  the  respective  trade  union,  the 
extent  of  applicant's  unemployment  and  the  causes 
thereof,  as  well  as  the  group  and  category  to  which  he 
belongs. 

10.  The  local  funds  for  unemployed  may  for  good 
reasons,  be  denied  the  applicant. 

11.  If  an  application  is  denied,  the  local  fund  for 
unemployed  shall  inform  the  applicant  thereof  within 
three  days. 

12.  The  decision  of  the  local  fund  for  unemployed 
may  within  two  weeks,  be  appealed  from  by  the  inter- 
ested parties  to  the  Local  Department  of  Labor,  and 
the  decision  of  the  latter  may  be  appealed  from  to  the 
District  Department  of  Labor.  The  decision  of  the 
District  Department  of  Labor  is  final  and  subject  to  no 
further  appeal. 

13.  The  payment  of  the  subsidy  to  an  unemployed 
shall  commence  only  after  he  has  actually  been  laid 
off  and  not  later  than  by  the  fifth  day. 

14.  The  subsidies  shall  be  paid  from:  the  fund  of 
insurance  for  the  unemployed. 

15.  The  fund  of  unemployment  insurance  shall  be 
made  up, 

(a)  from  obligatory  payments  by  all  enterprises, 
establishments  and  institutions  employing  paid  la- 
bor; 

(&)  from  fines  imposed  for  default  in  such  pay- 
ments ; 

(c)  from  casual  payments. 


184     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'* 

16.  The  amount  and  the  manner  of  eollection  of  the 
payments  and  fines  mentioned  in  Section  15  of  these 
rules  shall  be  determined  every  year  by  a  special  order 
of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 


APPENDIX  TO  SECTION  80 

RULES  CONCEENING  LABOR  BOOKLETS 

1.  Every  citizen  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federated 
Soviet  Republic,  upon  assignment  to  a  definite  group 
and  category  (Section  62  of  the  present  Code),  shall 
receive,  free  of  charge,  a  labor  booklet. 

Note.  The  form  of  the  labor  booklets  shall  be  worked 
out  by  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 

2.  Each  wage  earner,  on  entering  the  employment 
of  an  enterprise,  establishment  or  institution  employ- 
ing paid  labor,  shall  present  his  labor  booklet  to  the  man- 
agement thereof,  or  on  entering  the  employment  of  a 
private  individual — to  the  latter. 

Note.  A  copy  of  the  labor  booklet  shall  be  kept  by 
the  management  of  the  enterprise,  establishment,  institu- 
tion or  private  individual  by  whom  the  wage  earner  is 
employed. 

3.  All  work  performed  by  a  wage  earner  during  the 
normal  working  day  as  well  as  piece-work  or  overtime 
work,  and  all  payments  received  by  him  as  a  wage  earner 
(remuneration  in  money  or  in  kind,  subsidies  from  the 
unemployment  and  hospital  funds) ,  must  be  entered  in 
his  labor  booklet. 

Note.  In  the  labor  booklet  must  also  .be  entered  the 
leaves  of  absence  and  sick  leave  of  the  wage  earner, 
as  well  as  the  fines  imposed  on  him  during  and  on  ac- 
count of  his  work. 

4.  Each  entry  in  the  labor  booklet  must  be  dated  and 
signed  by  the  person  making  the  entry,  and  «lso  by  the 


APPENDIX  185 

wage  earner  (if  the  latter  is  literate),  who  thereby  certi- 
fies the  correctness  of  the  entry. 

5.  The  labor  booklet  shall  contain: 

(a)  The  name,  surname  and  date  of  birth  of  the 
wage  earner; 

(6)  The  name  and  address  of  the  trade  union  of 
which  the  wage  earner  is  a  member; 

(c)  The  group  and  category  to  which  the  wage 
earner  has  been  assigned  by  the  valuation  commis- 
sion. 

6.  Upon  the  discharge  of  a  wage  earner,  his  labor 
booklet  shall  under  no  circumstances  be  withheld  from 
him.  Whenever  an  old  booklet  is  replaced  by  a  new  one, 
the  former  shall  be  left  in  possession  of  the  wage  earner. 

7.  In  case  a  wage  earner  loses  his  labor  booklet,  he 
shall  be  provided  with  a  new  one  into  which  shall  be 
copied  all  the  entries  of  the  lost  booklet ;  in  such  a  case 
a  fee  determined  by  the  rules  of  internal  management 
may  be  charged  to  the  wage  earner  for  the  new  booklet. 

8.  A  wage  earner  must  present  his  labor  booklet  upon 
the  request: 

(a)  Of  the  managers  of  the  enterprise,  establish- 
ment or  institution  where  he  is  employed; 

(6)  Of  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribution; 

(c)  Of  the  trade  union; 

(d)  Of  the  officials  of  workmen's  control  and  of 
labor  protection; 

(e)  Of  the  insurance  offices  or  institutions  acting 
as  such. 


186     *'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA' » 
APPENDIX  TO  SECTION  5 

RULES  FOR  THE  DETERMINATION  OP  DISABILXTY  FOR  WORK 

1.  Disability  for  work  shall  be  determined  by  an 
examination  of  the  applicant  by  the  Bureau  of  Medical 
Experts,  in  urban  districts,  or  by  the  provincial  insur- 
ance offices,  accident  insurance  offices  or  institutions  act- 
ing as  such. 

l^oie.  In  case  it  be  impossible  to  organize  a  Bureau 
of  Medical  Experts  at  any  insurance  office,  such  a  bu- 
reau may  be  organized  at  the  Medical  Sanitary  Depart- 
ment of  the  local  Soviet,  provided,  however,  that  the 
said  bureau  shall  be  guided  in  its  actions  by  the  general 
rules  and  instructions  for  insurance  offices. 

2.  The  staff  of  the  Bureau  of  Experts  shall  include : 

(a)  Not  less  than  three  specialists  in  surgery; 

(6)  Eepresentatives  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  office; 

(c)  Sanitary  mechanical  engineers  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  the  office; 

{d)  Representatives  of  the  trade  unions. 

Note.  The  specialists  in  suri;ery  on  the  staff  of  the 
bureau  shall  be  recommended  by  the  medical  sanitary 
department,  with  the  consent  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, preferably  from  among  the  surgeons  connected 
with  the  hospital  funds,  and  shall  be  confirmed  by  a 
delegates'  meeting  of  the  office. 

3.  During  the  examination  of  a  person  at  the  Bureau 
of  the  Medical  Commission,  all  persons  who  have  ap- 
plied for  the  examination  may  be  present. 

4.  An  application  for  the  determination  of  the  loss 
of  working  ability  may  be  made  by  any  person  or  in- 
stitution. 


APPENDIX  187 

5.  Applications  for  examination  sliall  be  made  to  the 
insurance  office  nearest  to  tlie  residence  of  the  person 
in  question. 

6.  Examinations  shall  take  place  in  a  special  room 
of  the  insurance  office. 

Note.  If  the  person  to  be  examined  cannot  be 
brought  to  the  insurance  office,  owing  to  his  condition, 
the  examination  may  take  place  at  his  residence. 

7.  Every  person  who  is  to  be  examined  at  the  Bureau 
of  Medical  Experts  shall  be  informed  by  the  respective 
insurance  office  of  the  day  and  hour  set  for  the  examina- 
tion and  of  the  location  of  the  section  of  the  Bureau 
of  Medical  Experts  where  the  same  is  to  take  place. 

8.  The  Bureau  of  Medical  Experts  may  use  all  meth- 
ods approved  by  medical  science  for  determining  dis- 
ability for  work. 

9.  The  Bureau  of  Medical  Experts  shall  keep  detailed 
minutes  of  the  conference  meetings,  and  the  record  em- 
bodying the  results  of  the  examinations  shall  be  signed 
by  all  members  of  the  bureau. 

10.  A  person  who  has  undergone  an  examination  and 
has  been  found  unfit  for  work  shall  receive  a  certificate 
from  the  Bureau  of  Medical  Experts. 

Note.  A  copy  of  the  certificate  shall  be  kept  in  the 
files  of  the  bureau. 

11.  The  records  as  well  as  the  certificates  shall  show 
whether  the  disability  is  of  a  permanent  or  temporary 
character.  If  the  disability  for  work  be  temporary,  the 
record  and  certificate  shall  show  the  date  set  for  exami- 
nation. 

12.  After  the  disability  for  work  has  been  certified 
the  proper  insurance  office  shall  inform  thereof  the  De- 
partment of  Social  Security  of  the  local  Soviet,  stating 
the  name,  surname  and  address  of  the  person  disabled, 
as  well  as  the  character  of  the  disability  (whether  tem- 
porary or  permanent). 


188     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

13.  The  decision  of  the  Bureau  of  Medical  Experts 
Certifying  or  denying  the  disability  of  the  applicant  may 
be  appealed  from  by  the  interested  parties  to  the  Peo- 
ple's Commissariat  of  Health  Protection. 

14.  The  People's  Commissariat  of  Health  Protection 
may  either  dismiss  the  appeal  or  issue  an  order  for  the 
re-examination  of  appellant  by  a  new  staff  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Experts. 

15.  The  decision  of  the  new  staff  of  the  Bureau  of 
Experts  shall  be  final  and  subject  to  no  further  appeal. 

16.  Re-examinations  to  establish  the  recovery  of 
working  ability  shall  be  conducted  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  first  examination,  with  the  observance  of  the 
regulations  of  the  present  article  of  the  Code. 

17.  The  expenses  incurred  in  connection  with  the 
examination  of  an  insured  person  shall  be  charged  to 
the  respective  insurance  office.  The  expenses  incurred 
in  connection  with  the  examination  of  a  person  not  in- 
sured shall  be  charged  to  the  respective  enterprise,  es- 
tablishment or  institution. 

18.  The  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  may,  if 
necessary,  modify  or  amend  the  present  rules  for  the 
determination  of  disability  for  work. 

Rules  concerning  payment  of  sick  benefits  (subsidies)' 
to  wage  earners: 

1.  Every  wage  earner  shall  receive  in  case  of  sick- 
ness a  subsidy  and  medical  aid  from  the  local  hospital 
fund  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Note  I.  Each  person  may  be  a  member  of  only  one 
insurance  fund  at  a  time. 

Nate  II.  A  person  who  has  been  ill  outside  the  dis- 
trict of  the  local  hospital  fund  of  which  he  is  a  mem- 
ber shall  receive  the  subsidy  from  the  hospital  fund 
of  the  district  in  which  he  has  been  taken  ill.  All  ex- 
penses thus  incurred  shall  be  charged  to  the  hospital 
fund  of  which  the  particular  person  is  a  member. 


APPENDIX  189 

2.  The  sick  benefits  shall  be  paid  to  a  member  of 
a  hospital  fund  from  the  first  day  of  his  sickness  until 
the  day  of  his  recovery,  with  the  exception  of  those 
days  during  which  he  has  worked  and  accordingly  re- 
ceived remuneration  from  the  enterprise,  establishment 
or  institution  where  he  is  employed. 

3.  The  sick  benefit  shall  be  equal  to  the  remunera- 
tion fixed  for  a  wage  earner  of  the  respective  group  and 
category. 

Note  I.  The  group  and  category  in  which  the  wage 
earner  is  enrolled  shall  be  ascertained  by  the  local  hospi- 
tal fund  through  the  Department  of  Labor  Distribu- 
tion or  through  the  trade  unions. 

Note  II.  The  subsidy  for  pregnant  women  and  those 
lying-in  shall  be  fixed  by  special  regulations  of  the  Peo- 
ple's Commissariat  of  Labor. 

Note  III.  In  exceptional  cases  the  People's  Commis- 
sariat of  Labor  may  reduce  the  subsidy  to  the  minimum 
of  living  expenses  as  determined  for  the  respective  dis- 
trict. 

4.  Besides  the  subsidies,  the  hospital  funds  shall  also 
provide  for  their  members  free  medical  aid  of  every 
kind  (first  aid,  ambulatory  treatment,  home  treatment, 
treatment  in  sanatoria  or  resorts,  etc.) 

Note.  To  secure  medical  aid  any  hospital  fund  may, 
independently  or  in  conjunction  with  other  local  funds, 
organize  and  maintain  its  own  ambulatories,  hospitals, 
etc.,  as  well  as  enter  into  agreements  with  individual 
physicians  and  establishments. 

5.  The  resources  of  the  local  hospital  funds  shall  be 
derived : 

(a)  From  obligatory  payments  by  enterprises, 
establishments  and  institutions  (Soviet,  public 
and  private)  employing  paid  labor; 


190     ^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'* 

( h )  From  fines  for  delay  of  payments ; 

(c)  From  profits    on    the    investments    of    the 
funds; 

{d)  From  casual  payments. 

Note.  The  resources  of  the  local  hospital  funds  shall 
be  consolidated  into  one  common  fund  of  insurance 
against  sickness. 

6.  The  amount  of  the  payments  to  local  hospital 
funds  by  enterprises,  establishments  and  institutions 
employing  paid  labor  shall  be  periodically  fixed  by  the 
People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 

Note  I,  In  case  these  obligatory  payments  be  not 
paid  within  the  time  fixed  by  the  local  hospital  funds, 
they  shall  be  collected  by  the  Local  Department  of  La- 
bor; moreover,  in  addition  to  the  sum  due,  a  fine  of  10 
per  cent  thereof  shall  be  imposed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
hospital  fund. 

Note  11.  In  case  the  delay  be  due  to  the  fault  of  the 
responsible  managers  of  the  particular  enterprise,  estab- 
lishment, or  institution,  the  fine  shall  be  collected  from 
the  personal  means  of  the  latter. 

7.  The  decision  of  the  hospital  funds  may  be  ap- 
pealed from  within  two  weeks  to  the  Department  of  La- 
bor. The  decision  of  the  Department  of  Labor  shall  be 
final  and  subject  to  no  further  appeal. 

8.  The  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor  may,  when- 
ever necessary,  change  or  amend  the  foregoing  rules 
concerning  sick  benefits  to  wage  earners. 


APPENDIX  191 

THE     SECOND    ALL-RUSSIAN     CONGRESS     OF 
TRADES  UNIONS    (VOCATIONAL  UNIONS) 


RESOLUTIONS    ADOPTED   AT    THE    CONFERENCE 

Moscow,  June  16th  to  25tli,  1919 

A  year's  work  of  the  professional  trades  unions  of 
Russia  was  completed  by  a  new  conference,  the  second 
one  in  its  history — which  shows  how  young  our  pro- 
fessional movement  is  as  yet.  The  past  year  was  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  the  entire  international 
trade  union  movement,  both  according  to  the  kind  of  ac- 
tivity as  well  as  those  circumstances  under  which  our 
unions  had  to  carry  on  their  work. 

It  was  a  year  of  the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat. 

On  the  ruins  of  the  demolished  capitalist  system,  the 
proletariat  of  Russia  has  taken  upon  itself  the  task 
of  building  up  a  new,  Socialist  Russia.  While  strug- 
gling and  conquering,  it  was  gradually  turning  to  con- 
structive work — strengthening  its  dictatorship  by  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  entire  apparatus  of  the  country's 
economic  administration. 

.  The  proletariat,  organized  into  professional  unions, 
constituted  the  vanguard  of  the  Socialist  revolution. 
The  unions  were  the  hotbeds  of  revolution,  and  it  has 
fallen  to  their  lot  to  solve  the  most  complicated  problems 
— in  fact  they  took  into  their  hands  the  management  of 
all  economic  affairs,  taking  over  the  factories,  the  mills 
and  the  mines.  This  problem  was  difficult  in  itself, 
and  its  complexity  was  increased  still  further  through 
t-he  economic  disintegration  and  chaos  which  were  caused 
by  the  imperialist  world  war. 

The  Second  All-Russian  Conference  of  Trades  Unions 
demonstrated  that  the  Russian  professional  trades  union 
movement  has  grown  stronger  during  the  year  and  that 
its  organization  has  improved  in  both  quantity  and  qual- 
ity. 


192     *'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA»' 

The  qualitative  progress  made  by  the  Russian  trades 
union  movement  expressed  itself  in  that  marvelous  intel- 
ligence which  the  Conference  displayed  in  grappling 
with  the  complicated  problems  it  had  to  face.  If 
the  first  All-Russian  Conference  of  Professional  trades 
unions  outlined  a  rough  draft  of  a  plan  accord- 
ing to  which  the  working  class  was  to  steer  its  course 
during  the  period  of  its  supremacy,  if  at  that  first  con- 
ference the  delegates  were  groping  in  the  dark,  trying 
to  feel  the  correct  way, — the  second  Conference  found  the 
path  sufficiently  cleared  to  proceed  forward  toward  the 
fcolution  of  new  problems  put  forth  by  the  life  and  prac- 
tice of  the  professional  movement.  It  at  the  First  Con- 
ference we  could  only  speak  of  regulating  industry  and 
controlling  it,  now,  at  this  Second  Conference,  we  can 
already  tabulate  the  results  of  organization  in  the  realm 
of  industry  by  the  efforts  of  the  working  class  itself. 

A  big  stride  forward  was  made  by  the  proletariat  or- 
ganized within  professional  trades  unions,  when  in  dis- 
cussing the  question  of  organization  it  pointed  out  clear- 
ly and  definitely  the  place  which  the  proletariat  of  the 
entire  world  is  occupying  under  the  present  circum- 
stances. The  Conference  has  not  only  firmly  and  de- 
cisively drawn  the  line  between  its  position  and  that 
of  neutrality,  but  it  took  a  definite  stand  in  favor  of 
recognizing  "the  revolutionary  class  struggle  for  the 
realization  of  Socialism  through  the  dictatorship  of  the 
proletariat." 

The  quantitative  growth  of  the  Russian  trades  unions 
since  the  first  Conference,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  counter-revolution  has  snatched  away  a  number  of 
provinces  (Siberia,  Finland,  the  Donetz  region,  Cau- 
casia, etc.),  has  resulted  in  a  membership  of  3,422,000 
whereas  only  2,500,000  members  were  represented  at  the 
First  Conference.  Thus,  within  one  year  the  member- 
ship increased  by  almost  one  million.  According  to  the 
All-Russian  industrial  groupings,  the  number  of  union 


APPENDIX  193 

members  represented  at  the  conference  was  distributed 

as  follows : 

Metal  trades    400,000 

Tanners 225,000 

Members  of  Trade-Industrial  Union  (prob- 
ably sales  clerks) 200,000 

Workers  engaged  in  the  food  industry. .  140,000 

Tailors    150,000 

Chemists    80,000 

Architectural  and  building  trades 120,000 

Wood- working   trades 70,000 

Printers    60,000 

Railroad  workers    450,000 

Glass  and  chinaware  workers 24,000 

Water  transportation  workers 200,000 

Postal-telegraphic  employees  100,000 

Sugar  industry    100,000 

Textile  workers    (according   to   data   fur- 
nished by  the  local  union) 711,000 

Firemen    50,000 

Oil  miners  and  refiners 30,000 

Chauffeurs    98,000 

Bank  employees     70,000 

Domestic    help  50,000 

Waiters    (in  taverns) 50,000 

Cigar  and  cigarette  makers 30,000 

Drug  clerks 14,000 

Foresters    5,000 

According  to  the  data  furnished  by  the  committee  on 
credentials,  there  were  748  delegates  at  the  Conference 
with  the  right  to  vote,  and  131  with  a  voice.  The  poli- 
tical composition  of  the  Conference  (according  to  the 
results  of  an  informal  inquiry)  was  as  follows:  374  Com- 
munists, 75  sympathizers,  15  Left  Socialists-Revolution- 
ists, 5  Anarchists,  18  Internationalists,  4  representatives 
of  the  Bund,  29  United  Social-Democrats,  23  non-parti- 


194    ''BAEBABOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 


sans,  and  236  delegates  did  not  state  their  party  affilia- 
tions. The  party  registration  bureaus  showed  entirely 
different  results,  which  have  been  confirmed  by  the  vote 
cast  for  the  main  resolutions.  Thus,  at  the  Communist 
bureau  600  persons  have  registered  (this  includes  party 
members  having  the  right  ta  vote,  sympathizers,  and 
people  with  a  voice  only,  but  no  vote),  the  Interna- 
tionalists had  50  persons,  and  the  United  Social-Demo- 
crats had  70. 

Geographically  the  delegates  were  represented  as  fol- 
lows : 

Second  First 

From  Unions  Conference        Conference 

The   Northern   Region....  100  delegates      69  delegates 

The  Central  Region 320        ''  112 

The  Volga  Region 144        **  25 

The  Ural  Region 2        "  13 

The  Southern  Region  ....     31        "  62 

The  Western  Region 30        '' 

From  Soviets  and 

Northern  Region  29        ** 

Central  Region    70        " 

Ural  Region • 3        " 

Southern  Region  6        ** 

Western  Region   14        " 

Volga  Region   30 

The  local   Soviets  of  the  Professional  Unions  were 
represented  according  to  regions,  as  follows: 


Central  Region    36  cities 

Northern  Region 16  cities 

Volga  Region 19  cities 

Western  Region  7  cities 

Southern  Region   4  cities 


1,004,500  persons 

396,000  persons 

499,300  persons 

73,800  persons 

64,000  persona 


Total    82  cities    2,037,600  persons 

At  the  preceding 

Conference    49  cities    1,888,353  persons 


[APPENDIX  195 

From  June  IGth  to  25th,  1919,  during  the  nine  days  of 
its  work,  the  second  All-Russian  Congress  of  Trades 
Unions  solved  the  fundamental  questions  of  the  Russian 
professional  (trades  union)  movement.  The  Conference 
more  precisely  defined  the  place  of  the  professional 
trades  unions  in  a  proletarian  state,  it  has  more  con- 
cretely outlined  the  interrelations  of  the  trades  unions 
with  the  organs  of  administration  and,  above  all,  with 
the  People 's  Commissariat  of  Labor.  All  other  questions, 
such  as  the  regulation  of  working  hours  and  wages, 
the  safeguarding  of  labor  and  the  social  insurance 
of  laborers,  the  organization  of  production,  and  work- 
men's control  have  been  solved  on  the  basis  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  past  year. 

The  Russian  professional  unions  entered  upon  a  new 
era  of  proletarian  activity.  And  the  unions  are  al- 
ready facing  practical  problems — to  put  into  practice 
the  principles  and  resolutions  adopted  and  in  all  phases 
of  its  work  to  follow  one  direction,  that  of  still  further 
strengthening  its  power,  and  participating  more  closely 
in  establishing  the  might  of  proletarian  Russia. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  PROFESSIONAL 
TRADES  UNIONS 

{A  resolution  introduced  hy  M.   Tomsky) 

One  year  of  political  and  economic  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat  and  the  gro\\i;h  of  the  workers'  revolu- 
tion the  world  over,  have  fully  borne  out  the  correct- 
ness of  the  position  taken  by  the  first  AU-Russian  Con- 
ference of  the  Professional  Trades  Unions,  who  have 
unconditionally  bound  up  the  fate  of  the  economically 
organized  proletariat  with  that  of  the  Workers'  and 
Peasants'  Government. 


196     *'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

The  attempt,  under  the  flag  of  ** unity"  and  "inde- 
pendence" of  the  trades  union  movement,  to  pit  the 
economically  organized  proletariat  against  the  organs 
of  the  political  dictatorship  of  its  own  class,  has  led 
the  groups  which  were  supporting  this  slogam,  to  an 
open  struggle  against  the  Soviet  Government  and  has 
placed  them  outside  the  ranks  of  the  working  class. 

In  the  course  of  the  practical  cooperation  with  the 
Soviet  Government  in  the  work  for  the  strengthening 
and  organization  of  the  nation's  economic  life,  the  pro- 
fessional trades  unions  have  passed  from  control  over 
industry  to  organization  of  industry,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  management  of  individual  enterprises  as  well 
as  in  the  entire  economic  life  of  the  country. 

But  the  task  of  nationalization  of  all  the  means  of 
production  and  the  organization  of  society  on  the  new 
principles  of  Socialism  demands  persistent  and  careful 
labor  involving  the  reconstruction  of  the  entire  govern- 
mental apparatus,  the  creation  of  new  organs  of  con- 
trol, and  regulation  of  production  and  distribution, 
based  on  the  organization  and  activity  of  the  laboring 
masses  who  are  themselves  directly  interested  in  the 
results. 

This  makes  it  imperative  for  the  trades  unions  to 
take  a  more  active  and  energetic  part  in  the  work  of 
the  Soviet  Government  (through  direct  participation 
in  all  governmental  institutions,  through  the  organiza- 
tion of  proletarian  mass  control  over  theip  actions,  and 
the  carrying  out,  by  means  of  their  organization,  of 
individual  problems  with  which  the  Soviet  Government 
is  confronted),  to  aid  in  the  reconstruction  of  various 
governmental  institutions  and  in  the  gradual  replaco- 
ment  of  the  same  by  their  own  organizations  by  amalga- 
mating the  unions  with  the  governmental  institutions. 

However,  it  would  be  a  mistake  at  the  given  stage  of 
development  of  the  professional  trades  union  movement 
with  the  insufiBciently  developed  organization  to  convert 


APPENDIX  197 

immediately  the  unions  into  governmental  organs  and 
to  amalgamate  the  two  organizations  as  well  as  for  the 
unions  to  usurp  of  their  own  accord  the  functions  of 
governmental  institutions. 

The  entire  process  of  complete  amalgamation  of  the 
professional  unions  with  the  organs  of  government  ad- 
ministration must  come  as  an  absolutely  inevitable  result 
of  their  work,  in  complete  and  close  cooperation  and  har- 
mony and  the  preparation  of  the  laboring  masses,  for 
the  task  of  managing  the  governmental  apparatus  and 
all  the  institutions  for  the  regulation  of  the  country's 
economic  life. 

This,  in  its  turn,  places  before  the  unions  the  problem 
of  welding  together  the  as  yet  unorganized  proletarian 
and  semi-proletarian  masses  into  strong  productive  un- 
ions, initiating  them,  under  the  control  of  the  proleta- 
rian unions,  into  the  task  of  social  reconstruction  and 
the  general  work  of  strengthening  their  organizations, 
as  regards  centralization  and  smoothly  working  unions 
as  well  as  the  strengthening  of  professional  discipline. 

Directly  participating  in  all  fields  of  Soviet  work, 
forming  and  supplying  the  man-power  for  the  govern- 
mental institutions,  the  professional  unions  must, 
through  this  work  for  which  they  must  enlist  their  own 
organizations  as  well  as  the  laboring  masses,  educate 
and  prepare  them  for  the  task  of  managing  not  only 
production  but  the  entire  apparatus  of  government. 


198     ''BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

PROFESSIONAL    UNIONS    AND    THE    COMMIS- 
SARIAT OF  LABOR 

{A  resolution  embodied  in  V,  Schmidt's  report) 

Professional  trades  unions  organized  according  to  the 
scale  of  production,  called  upon  to  regulate  the  condi- 
tions of  labor  and  production  in  the  interests  of  the 
working  class  as  a  whole,  under  the  conditions  of  pro- 
letarian dictatorship,  are  becoming  gradually  converted 
into  economic  associations  of  the  proletariat,  acquiring 
a  nation-wide  significance.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Commissariat  of  Labor,  as  an  organ  of  the  Workers'  and 
Peasants'  Government,  in  which  the  organized  industrial 
proletariat  is  at  the  present  moment  playing  a  leading 
part,  serves  as  an  instrument  for  the  introduction  of 
the  economic  policy  of  the  working  class,  utilizing  for 
this  purpose  its  apparatus  and  all  the  power  vested  in 
governmental  authorities  to  enforce  its  laws  and  regu- 
lations. 

Therefore,  with  a  view  to  eliminating  the  duality  in 
the  united  economic  policy  of  the  working  class,  it  is 
necessary  to  recognize  that  all  fundamental  decisions 
of  the  supreme  union  organ — the  Congress  of  Profes- 
sional Unions — are  to  be  adopted  by  the  People's  Com- 
missariat of  Labor  and  embodied  in  its  proposed  legis- 
lation and  all  special  obligatory  regulations  bearing  on 
the  conditions  of  labor  and  production,  must  first  be 
approved  by  a  majority  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Coun- 
cil of  Professional  Trades  Unions. 

The  Conference  fully  approves  of  coordination  and 
cooperation  between  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  of 
Trades  Unions  and  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor 
and  suggests  that  the  local  councils  (Soviets)  of  trades 
unions  participate  in  the  work  of  local  branches  (de- 
partments) of  the  Commissariat  of  Labor,  on  the  basis 
of  the  relations  prevailing  between  the  central  bodies, 


APPENDIX  199 

for  which  purpose  the  local  councils  of  trades  unions 
are  to  send  their  representatives  into  the  leading  Soviets 
and  make  up  out  of  the  union  apparatus  its  subdivisions 
(tariff,  social  insurance,  labor  safeguarding,  etc.) 

In  order  to  finally  eliminate  all  duplication  in  the 
solution  of  questions  concerning  the  conditions  and 
regulation  of  labor  by  separate  departments,  the  Con- 
ference suggests  that  the  All-Russian  Central  Executive 
Committee  and  the  Soviet  of  People's  Commissaries 
concentrate  all  its  efforts  to  the  working  out  of  stan- 
dards regulating  the  conditions  of  work,  wages,  organ- 
ization of  labor,  order  of  employing  and  discharging 
help,  safeguarding  labor,  and  social  insurance,  through 
the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 


THE  PARTICIPATION  OF  THE  UNIONS  IN  THE 
ORGANIZATION  OP  INDUSTRY 

{A  resolution  on  the  report  made  hy  Comrade  Rud- 

zutak) 

1.  The  process  of  taking  over  the  control  of  the 
industries  which  is  now  being  completed  by  the  work- 
ers' government,  places  the  vocational  associations  in 
a  position  where  they  are  coming  to  play  an  ever  more 
and  more  important  part  in  the  special  fields  of  their 
activity. 

2.  Standing  in  close  relationship  to  the  actual  produc- 
tion and  thus  being  the  natural  guardians  of  industry 
against  the  remnants  of  the  bureaucratic  apparatus  per- 
meated by  the  traditions  of  the  old  regime,  the  unions 
must  build  a  new  Socialist  order,  in  accordance  with  the 
fixed  program  of  production  based  on  a  national  plan  for 
the  utilization  of  the  proper  products  and  material. 


200     ^'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA'» 

3.  In  the  interests  of  preserving  a  single  plan  of 
organization  of  production,  management  and  distribu- 
tion, it  will  be  necessary  to  concentrate  in  one  center 
all  the  units  of  production,  which  are  now  in  the  charge 
of  various  departments  (Chief  Artillery  Department, 
Navy  and  "War  Departments,  etc.) 

4.  The  participation  of  the  unions  in  the  industrial 
management  should  consist  in  the  working  out  of  a 
system  of  activity  for  the  regulating  and  managing  or- 
gans as  a  whole,  insofar  as  there  is  a  possibility  of  some 
part  or  other  of  their  membership  not  being  permeated 
by  the  spirit  of  Socialistic  constructive  activity.  The 
management  of  the  leading  departments  and  centers 
must  be  composed  mainly  of  the  representatives  of  pro- 
fessional unions,  following  an  understanding  between 
the  corresponding  All-Russian  Industrial  Association  or 
the  All-Russian  Council  of  Trades  Unions  and  the  pre- 
siding officers  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Econ- 
omy. 

5.  All  delegates  representing  the  trades  unions  with- 
in the  administrative  and  regulating  bodies  are  respon- 
sible to  the  corresponding  unions  and  are  to  report  on 
their  activities  at  regular  intervals. 

6.  In  order  to  keep  up  the  organic  connection  be- 
tween the  unions  and  the  management  of  the  government 
owned  mills,  the  unions  are  to  call  conferences  of  the 
management  of  the  largest  enterprises,  not  less  than 
once  in  two  months,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  and 
passing  upon  the  most  important  practical  questions 
arising  in  the  process  of  work. 

7.  In  order  to  convert  the  regulating  and  managing 
organs  into  a  proletarian  apparatus  for  constructive 
Socialist  work  and  in  order  to  obtain  the  cooperation 
in  this  work  of  the  large  masses  of  the  more  advanced 
workers,  it  is  necessary  to  saturate  all  the  organs  of  regu- 
lation and  management  with  pi'oletarian  elements  by 


I 


APPENDIX  201 

means  of  placing  in  their  ranks  responsible  workers 
who  assert  themselves  within  the  central  and  local  trade 
union  groups. 

8.  Together  with  the  part  which  the  unions  are  play- 
ing in  the  matter  of  directing  the  industrial  life  along 
the  channels  fixed  by  the  programs  of  production,  based 
upon  the  subjugation  of  private  interest  to  those  of  so- 
ciety as  a  whole,  comes  their  activity  in  connection  with 
the  basic  element  of  production — labor.  Therefore,  the 
decisions  of  the  central  trade  union  associations  are  obli- 
gatory insofar  as  they  bear  on  the  questions  of  wage 
scales,  inspection  of  labor,  internal  regulations  within 
the  factories,  standards  of  production  and  labor  disci- 
pline. 

9.  Being  placed  in  the  position  of  organizers  of  pro- 
duction at  a  moment  when  Russia  is  now  more  than  at 
any  other  time,  affected  by  a  shortage  of  various  kinds 
of  material  which  causes  a  reduction  of  the  output,  the 
unions  must  safeguard  the  proletariat  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  its  exhaustion  or  degeneration,  as  a  class  of 
producers,  at  this  critical  period,  and  to  safeguard  its 
nucleus  against  social  disintegration  and  its  absorption 
by  other  classes;  it  is  therefore  necessary: 

(a)  wherever  a  shortage  of  raw  material  exists 
to  reduce  the  working  day  or  the  number  of  days 
per  week,  keeping  employed  at  the  factory  the  larg- 
est possible  number  of  workers. 

(&)  to  introduce,  wherever  the  number  of  hours 
or  days  per  week  is  reduced,  obligatory  attendance 
at  technical  and  educational  courses,  so  as  to  utilize 
the  crisis  for  the  purpose  of  lifting  the  technical 
and  cultural  level  of  the  laboring  masses. 

10.  At  the  same  time,  in  view  of  the  primary  signifi- 
cance of  actually  supplying  the  mills  with  the  necessary 
products,  and  the  impossibility  of  increasing  the  pro- 
ductivity of  labor  and  introducing  discipline,  unless  this 


202     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

question  is  solved  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  enable  the  trades  unions  to  participate  as  closely 
as  possible  in  the  work  of  production  and  distribution 
of  provisions. 


WORKERS'  CONTROL 

(Resolution  in  connection  vnth  N.  Glebov's  report) 

The  Second  All-Russian  Congress  of  Vocational  Un- 
ions, having  heard  the  report  on  workers'  control,  recog- 
nizes the  following: 

1.  Workers'  control,  which  was  the  strongest  revolu- 
tionary weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  labor  organizations 
in  their  struggle  against  economic  disruption  and  the 
sabotage  practised  by  the  employers  in  their  struggle 
against  the  proletariat  for  economic  supremacy,  has  led 
the  working  class  into  direct  participation  in  the  organi- 
zation of  production. 

2.  The  economic  dictatorship  of  the  working  class 
has  created  new  conditions  which  stirred  up  the  activity 
of  the  large  masses  of  the  workers.  Through  their  vo- 
cational associations  the  workers  have  been  called  upon 
to  organize  the  country's  economic  life  and  to  participate 
in  the  management  of  production. 

3.  At  the  same  time  the  working  class  domination 
over  the  economic  life  of  the  country  has  not  as  yet 
been  completed.  A  subdued  struggle  is  still  seething 
within  the  new  forms  of  economic  life,  which  calls  forth 
the  necessity  on  the  part  of  the  laboring  masses  to  con- 
trol the  activities  of  the  institutions  in  charge  of  the 
management  of  production. 

4.  Under  such  conditions  of  transition  from  the  capi- 
talist system  to  the  Socialist  regime,  the  workers'  con- 
trol must  develop,  from  a  revolutionary  weapon  for  the 
economic  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,  into  a  practical 


I 


APPENDIX  203 

institution  aiding  in  the  strengthening  of  this  dictator- 
ship in  the  process  of  production. 

5.  The  problems  of  workers'  control  must  be  confined 
to  the  supervision  of  the  course  of  work  in  the  various 
establishments,  and  to  practically  check  on  the  activity 
of  the  management  of  individual  mills  as  well  as  that 
of  entire  branches  of  industry.  The  workers'  control 
is  carried  out  in  practice  in  a  certain  order  according 
to  which  control  does  not  precede,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
follows  the  executive  work. 

6.  Workers'  control  is  edso  to  solve  the  problem  of 
the  gradual  preparation  of  the  large  masses  of  the  work- 
ing class  for  direct  participation  in  the  matter  of  man- 
agement and  organization  of  industry. 

With  this  object  in  view  the  Congress  resolves: 

1.  To  confirm  the  decision  of  the  first  All-Russian 
Congress  of  Vocational  Unions  regarding  the  forma- 
tion of  organs  of  control,  both  local  and  central,  under 
the  guidance  of  the  vocational  associations  of  the  work- 
ing class. 

2.  Within  every  nationalized  industrial,  commer- 
cial, and  transport  house,  the  local  committee  for  control 
takes  upon  itself  the  supervision  of  the  work  of  the 
enterprise  and  the  activities  of  its  management,  for 
which  purpose  it  gathers  and  systematizes  all  data  rela- 
tive to  the  running  of  the  establishment  and  places  the 
same  at  the  disposal  of  the  control  department  of  their 
trade  union,  before  which,  whenever  the  necessity  arises, 
the  question  of  auditing  the  books  of  the  enterprise  is 
brought  up. 

Note.  In  extraordinary  cases  the  local  control 
commission  has  the  right  on  its  own  responsibility 
to  fix  the  time  for  a  revision  of  their  enterprise, 
with  a  precise  statement  of  the  subject  of  control, 
on  condition  that  the  local  control  committee  imme- 


204     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

diately  notify  to  that  effect  the  Department  of  Con- 
trol of  the  corresponding  industrial  (vocational) 
union. 

3.  The  local  control  committee  is  being  formed  of: 
(a)  representatives  of  the  corresponding  industrial  (vo- 
cational) union;  (&)  of  the  persons  elected  by  the  gen- 
eral meeting  of  the  workers  employed  in  a  given  fac- 
tory, who  are  subject  to  approval  by  the  committee  of 
the  corresponding  industrial  (vocational)  union.  The 
members  of  the  local  control  committee  elected  from 
among  the  committee  of  the  industrial  union,  retain 
their  office  for  a  considerable  length  of  time;  while  the 
persons  elected  at  the  general  meeting  are  to  be  replaced 
in  as  short  a  period  as  possible,  with  a  view  to  training 
the  large  masses  of  the  people  in  the  work  of  manage- 
ment and  organization  of  industry  so  as  to  insure  the 
gradual  transition  to  the  system  of  universal  participa- 
tion in  it  of  all  the  workers. 

4.  The  local  control  committee  is  responsible  for  its 
activities  both  before  the  general  meeting  of  the  work- 
ers of  their  factory  and  before  the  control  department  of 
their  industrial  (vocational)  union.  In  case  of  abuse  of 
authority,  negligence  in  carrying  out  its  duties,  and  so 
on,  the  local  control  committee  is  subject  to  severe  pun- 
ishment. 

5.  The  representatives  of  the  local  control  commit- 
tee participate  at  the  sessions  of  the  management  of  the 
mill  or  factory,  having  only  a  voice,  but  no  vote  in 
the  matter.  The  rights  of  administration  of  the  estab- 
lishment remains  with  the  management  and  therefore 
the  entire  responsibility  for  the  work  of  the  enterprise 
rests  with  the  management. 

6.  The  coordination  of  the  workers'  control  within  the 
limits  of  any  given  industry  must  be  centered  within 
the  industrial   (vocational)   union.     The  union  creates 


APPENDIX  205 

a  Workers'  Control  Department  which  is  responsible  be- 
fore the  management  of  its  union. 

7.  The  Congress  authorizes  the  All-Russian  Central 
Council  (Soviet)  of  Vocational  Unions  to  direct  the  in- 
stitutions of  workers'  control.  For  this  purpose  the  AIl- 
Russian  Central  Council  is  to  form  a  supreme  organ 
of  workers'  control,  composed  of  the  representatives  of 
the  industrial  (vocational)  unions. 

8.  "With  a  view  to  coordinating  all  activities  and 
eliminating  the  duplication  of  functions  in  the  work 
of  control,  the  organs  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
State  Control  must  work  in  contact  with  the  controlling 
organs  of  the  industrial  (vocational)  unions. 

9.  The  supreme  organ  of  workers'  control  is  to  work 
out  the  instructions,  fully  determining  the  rights  and 
duties  of  the  lower  organs  of  control  and  their  organiza- 
tion. Until  such  time  as  these  instructions  are  made 
public  the  organs  of  workers'  control  in  the  nationalized 
enterprises  are  to  be  guided  by  these  rulings. 

10.  The  regulations  for  the  workers'  control  of  na- 
tionalized enterprises  must  be  decreed  by  the  Council 
of  People's  Commissaries. 

11.  In  the  establishments  which  have  not  been  na- 
tionalized workers'  control  is  to  be  carried  out  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  decree  of  November  14,  1917. 


WAGE  AND  WORK  REGULATION 

{Resolution  introduced  in  connection  with  V.  Schmidt's 
report) 

Observing  a  great  variety  and  lack  of  coordination 
of  the  tariff  (wage  scale)  regulations  which  hamper 
not  only  the  standardization  of  labor,  but  their  prac- 
tical materialization,  and  explaining  such  an  abnormal 
phenomenon  in  this  matter  by  the  presence  of  a  num- 
ber of  glaring  defects,    (absence  of  a  definite  system 


206     ^'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  KUSSIA'' 

of  wages,  which  would  serve  as  a  basis  of  the  tariff  regu- 
lations, the  elasticity  of  groups  and  categories,  the  elimi- 
nation from  these  regulations  of  the  salaries  of  the 
higher  technical,  commercial  and  administrative  person- 
nel), defects  due  to  the  rapid  transition  from  one  form 
of  wage  scale  regulation  to  another ;  due  to  the  weakness 
of  the  local  unions  and  their  local  separatism,  and,  final- 
ly, the  inconsistency  (instability)  of  the  local  organs 
of  governments  in  regard  to  the  wage  regulation  policy, 
the  Second  All-Russian  Congress  of  Vocational  Unions 
deems  it  necessary  to  introduce  the  following  amend- 
ments and  additions  to  the  wage  regulations: 

1.  The  basic  principle  of  wage  scale  regulation,  in 
connection  with  the  struggle  for  the  restoration  of  the 
country's  economic  forces,  must  be  the  responsibility 
of  the  laborers  and  other  employees  for  the  productivity 
of  labor  before  their  union,  and  the  responsibility  of  the 
latter  before  the  class  associations  of  the  proletariat. 
For  this  purpose  the  wage  scale  regulations  must  be 
based  on  the  system  of  compensation  of  labor  power 
which  would  serve  as  an  incentive  for  the  laborers  to 
outdo  each  other  in  their  desire  to  raise  the  productive 
ity  of  labor  in  the  nationalized  enterprises,  i.  e.  the  piece- 
work and  premium  system  founded  on  a  rock-bottom 
standard  of  production,  with  a  firmly  fixed  schedule  of 
either  increased  pay  or  decreased  hours  of  work  in 
compensation  for  production  above  the  standard  re- 
quirements. 

In  those  branches  of  industry  where  it  is  impossible 
to  standardize  the  work,  a  scale  of  wages  is  to  be  applied 
on  the  basis  of  the  time  employed  with  definite  hours 
of  work  and  strict  working  regulations. 

2.  The  wage  scale  of  the  industrial  union  is  to  in- 
clude the  higher  technical,  commercial  and  administra- 
tive personnel,  whose  salaries  are  to  be  subject  to  the 
control  of  the  union.  In  accordance  with  this,  the  tariff 
regulation  is  to  be  divided  into  three  fundamental  parts ; 


APPENDIX  207 

(a)'  the  higher  technical,  commercial,  and  administrative 
personnel;  (6)  the  lower  technical  and  administrative 
personnel;  the  employees  of  the  managements,  the  of- 
fices, institutions  and  commercial  establishments,  and 
(c)  the  laborers. 

3.  In  order  to  eliminate  too  large  a  number  of 
groups  and  categories  five  groups  and  15  categories) 
and  to  insure  a  fair  compensation  of  the  basic 
nucleus  of  the  workers  and  other  employees  oc- 
cupied in  the  industries,  a  subdivision  into  four  groups 
and  12  categories  is  fixed  for  each  of  the  three  ranks 
(the  higher  personnel,  the  lower  staff,  the  workers), 
the  ratio  of  the  higher  wage  to  the  lower  within  the 
limits  of  each  one  of  the  four  given  groups,  from  the 
first  category  to  the  12th,  is  1 :1.75. 

4.  The  wage  scale  regulations  for  individual  groups 
of  the  workers  and  for  certain  branches  of  industry  or 
parts  thereof,  must  contain  provisions  either  for  the 
shortening  of  hours,  or  for  the  increase  of  pay  as  com- 
pensation for  particularly  harmful,  dangerous,  difficult 
or  exhaustive  labor,  and  in  connection  with  climatic  con- 
ditions. 

5.  Clothing  and  footwear  is  to  be  distributed  to  the 
workers  engaged  in  the  wood  chopping  industry,  the 
sewerage  and  street  cleaning  industry,  or  occupied  in 
underground  work,  work  at  a  particularly  high  tempera- 
ture, or  necessitating  the  handling  of  harmful  chemicals. 
Particularly  difficult  and  harmful  work  (such  as,  un- 
derground work,  the  peat  gathering  industry,  the  prepa- 
ration of  wood  fuel,  work  at  a  high  temperature,  work 
with  poisonous  gases  and  acids  exhausting  the  system) 
should  carry  with  it  a  home  and  a  higher  wage.  This 
latter  measure  is  to  be  carried  out  by  tlie  All-Russian 
and  local  councils  of  the  Vocational  Unions.  In  order 
to  put  these  additions  and  amendments  to  the  wage  scale 
regulations  into  actual  life  and  in  order  to  do  away  with 


208    **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

the    obnoxious    multiformity    the    Congress    resolves: 

To  recognize  the  wage  scale  regulation  which  is  being 
carried  out  on  a  national  scale  and  which  affects  all 
the  workers  and  employees  of  a  given  industry,  from 
the  highest  administrator  down  to  the  skilled  laborer, — 
as  the  one  which  best  answers  the  fundamental  needs  of 
standardizing  the  wages. 

To  grant  to  the  All-Russian  Central  Committee  of 
the  Industrial  Unions  the  exclusive  right  to  finally  work 
out  the  wage  scale  regulations  and  to  submit  them  for 
approval  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  of  Profes- 
sional Unions  and  to  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Labor. 

To  deprive  the  local  branches  of  the  All-Russian  cen- 
tralized unions  of  the  right  to  directly  submit  their 
wage  scale  for  approval  over  the  head  of  their  central 
body,  so  long  as  an  All-Russian  industrial  wage  scale 
is  in  operation. 

To  leave  to  the  local  Soviets  (councils)  of  the  Voca- 
tional Unions  the  right  to  fix  the  wage  scale  regulations 
only  for  the  local  unions,  which  have  no  All-Russian  as- 
sociation, using  the  wage  scale  regulations  in  force  as 
a  guide;  under  no  circumstances  changing  the  regula- 
tions passed  on  a  national  scale.  Besides,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  local  Soviets  of  the  Vocational  Unions  to  coordi- 
nate individual  scales  in  different  industries  while  put- 
ting them  into  practice,  and  the  right  to  present  a 
grounded  petition  for  the  transfer  of  a  given  locality 
into  another  district  in  accordance  with  the  proportional 
(percentage)  scale  of  district  decrease  of  wages. 

The  Congress  approves  of  tlie  work  of  the  committee 
and  the  section  on  the  construction  of  wage  scale  regula- 
tions and  recommends  to  the  All-Russian  centralized  in- 
dustrial unions  to  accept  them  as  a  basis.  The  Congress 
authorizes  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  of  Vocational 
Unions  to  carry  out  this  resolution  strictly;  and  without 
any  deviations. 


APPENDIX  209 

LABOR  SAFEGUARDS  AND  SOCIAL  INSURANCE 
OF  THE  WORKERS 

{Resolution  passed  in  connection  vnth  A.  Bakhutov's 
report) 

In  capitalist  society,  with  the  complete  economic  and 
political  supremacy  of  the  bourgeoisie,  the  legal  meas- 
ures which  were  enacted  for  the  safeguarding  of  labor 
and  the  individual  kinds  of  social  insurance  of  the 
workers  were  being  enforced  under  the  control  of  the 
capitalist  state,  together  with  the  employing  class,  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  direct  influence  of  the  labor  organi- 
zations. With  the  establishment  of  the  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat  it  became  possible  for  the  first  time  to 
put  point  blank  all  the  questions  arising  out  of  the 
struggle  against  the  grave  consequences  of  the  condi- 
tions of  labor,  which  remain  as  a  legacy  of  the  capitalist 
era,  as  well  as  preventive  measures  and  the  solutions  of 
the  questions,  in  accordance  with  the  Socialist  aims  of  the 
present  moment.  The  actual  safeguarding  of  labor  and 
the  social  insurance  of  the  worker,  with  a  view  to  safe- 
guarding his  life  and  increasing  his  strength  and  power, 
proved  to  be  indissoluble  aspects  of  the  same  problem — 
changing  of  conditions  of  labor,  the  reconstruction  of 
the  industrial  environment  in  which  the  worker  is  labor- 
ing, and  the  betterment  of  his  living  conditions. 

The  October  revolution  determined  the  basic  principles 
of  social  defence  for  the  proletariat  of  Russia,  having 
given  over  the  safeguarding  of  labor  and  social  insurance 
of  the  toilers  into  the  hands  of  the  working  class,  and 
for  the  first  time  it  has  created  organs  of  factory  in- 
spection on  the  basis  of  elective  representation. 

But  the  acute  civil  war  and  the  economic  work  of 
organization,  as  the  fundamental  problem  which  has 
been  confronting  the  working  class  during  the  first  year 
of  the  October  coup  d'etat,  have  diverted  the  attention 


210     "BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

of  the  proletariat  from  a  problem  of  no  lesser  signifi- 
cance— the  safeguarding  of  its  health,  as  the  main  source 
of  national  economy — and  its  economic  organizations 
became  indifferent.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  working 
class  paid  but  very  little  attention  to  questions  of  labor 
safeguards  and  social  insurance,  as  well  as  to  the  insti- 
tutions in  charge  of  these  questions. 

At  the  present  moment,  however,  the  building  of  a 
new  life,  the  reconstruction  of  the  conditions  of  labor 
on  a  Socialist  foundation,  the  safeguarding  of  production 
for  the  life  and  health  of  the  workers,  the  betterment 
of  their  living  conditions,  the  workers'  insurance  against 
all  accidents  depriving  him  of  his  labor  power,  the  amal- 
gamation of  the  various  kinds  of  insurance  agencies 
into  one  powerful  organization,  and  the  management  of 
the  same,  are  becoming  the  most  important  problems 
which  the  vocational  unions  are  to  solve.  Together  with 
the  economic  work  of  organization  which  includes  the 
safeguarding  of  labor,  social  insurance  of  the  toilers 
must  take  the  proper  place  in  the  every-day  work  of  the 
unions. 

Taking  all  this  into  consideration,  the  second  Congress 
of  Vocational  Unions  finds  it  necessary  that  the  voca- 
tional unions — 

1.  Take  active  part  in  the  construction  of  united  gov- 
ernment insurance  bodies  through  the  formation  of  cor- 
responding subdivisions  within  the  departments  of  la- 
bor of  the  local  Soviets,  in  accordance  with  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Department  of  Social  Insurance  and  Labor 
Safeguards  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor;  2. 
That  they  energetically  carry  out  the  ''regulations  of 
social  insurance  of  the  workers"  of  October  31st,  1918; 
3.  That  they  immediately  start  the  organization  within 
the  unions  of  permanent  committees  on  the  safeguarding 
of  labor,  and  of  nuclei  for  the  same  within  the  various 
mills  and  factories  for  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with 


APPENDIX  211 

the  governmental  institutions  charged  with  the  safe- 
guarding of  labor ;  4.    That  they  intensify  the  work  on 
the  spot  for  the  creation  of  labor  inspection  by  means 
of  selection  and  training  for  this  purpose  of  the  active 
workers;  5.  That  they  practically  spread  the  validity  of 
the  safeguarding  of  labor  regulations  and  their  enforce- 
ment over  all  types  of  labor  (in  the  building  trades,  in 
the  transport  service,  over  domestic  servants,  commer- 
cial and  office  workers,  restaurant  help,  and  agricultural 
workers) ;     6.     That  they  pay  particular  attention  to 
the  conditions  of  labor  in  the  small  semi-handicraft  es- 
tablishments;     7.  That  they  assist  in  the  practical  ef- 
forts of  labor  inspection  to  remove  the  children  from 
the  works  and  for  the  introduction  of  a  shorter  work-day 
for  minors,  enabling  them  at  the  same  time  to  continue 
their  education ;  8.  That  they  take  an  active  part  in  the 
organization  of  local  sanitary-hygienic  and  technical  in- 
vestigations of  the  conditions  at  the  factories  and  mills, 
and  in  the  working  out  of  various  obligatory  standards 
and  various  measures  for  the  safeguarding  of  labor;  9. 
That  they  carry  out  the  principles  of  labor  safeguard- 
ing through  the  current  activity  of  the  local  and  central 
organs  regulating  the  nation's  economy;  10.     That  they 
take  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  improving  the  living 
conditions  of  the  working  population;     11.  That  they 
energetically  push  the  agitational  and  educational  work 
among  the  proletarian  masses  along  the  lines  of  voca- 
tional hygiene  and  sanitation  and  the  technique  of  in- 
suring safety,  as  well  as  on  general  questions  of  social 
insurance  and  labor  safeguarding. 


212     *'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 


THE  INTERRELATION  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT 
OF  SOCIAL  INSURANCE  AND  LABOR  SAFE- 
GUARDS OF  THE  PEOPLE'S  COMMISSA- 
RIAT  OF  LABOR  AND  THE  PEO- 
PLE'S COMIVIISSARIAT  OF  SO- 
CIAL INSURANCE 

Whereas  in  the  process  of  development  of  the  social 
revolution  the  division  of  society  into  a  handful  of 
parasites,  on  the  one  hand,  and  into  the  masses  of  work- 
ers and  peasants  overloaded  with  excessive  toil,  on  the 
other,  is  constantly  disappearing,  and  the  entire  popula- 
tion is  being  transformed  into  a  mass  of  producers  who 
aiust  be  insured,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  regulations  on  social  insurance  of  the  laborers,  of 
October  31,  1918,  against  all  accidents  that  might  in- 
capacitate them,  and 

Whereas  the  work  of  social  insurance  can  be  devel- 
oped on  condition  of  immediate  participation  of  voca- 
tional unions  through  the  medium  of  the  corresponding 
organs  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor, 

The  second  Congress  of  Vocational  Unions  holds  that 
all  insurance  business,  its  functions,  the  institutions  of 
the  People's  Commissariat  of  Social  Insurance,  affecting 
the  workers,  must  be  amalgamated  into  the  common 
work  of  the  Department  of  Social  Insurance  and  Labor 
Safeguard  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor. 

Having  discussed  the  question  of  interrelations  be- 
tween the  Commissariat  of  Public  Health  and  the  De- 
partment of  Social  Insurance  and  Labor  Safeguards 
of  the  People's  Commissariat  of  Labor,  the  second  All- 
Russian  Congress  of  Vocational  Unions  resolved  to  ac- 
cept the  following  principles  as  a  basis  for  the  solution 
of  the  question: 

1.    Social  insurance  and  labor  safeguarding  being  a 


APPENDIX  213 

complete  and  logically  united  institution,  with  the  dic- 
tatorship of  the  proletariat  in  power,  when  the  entire 
population  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federal  Soviet  Re- 
public is  being  transformed  into  laborers,  covers  the 
activities  of  Commissariat  of  Health,  thus  representing 
under  the  circumstances  one  of  the  most  important  and 
most  necessary  links  of  one  chain. 

2.  It  is  possible  to  carry  into  life  the  measures  of 
social  insurance  and  labor  safeguards  with  the  neces- 
sary system  and  on  a  vast  scale,  only  if  the  work  is 
done  in  the  closest  connection  and  intimate  touch  with 
the  masses  that  are  interested  in  it,  and  on  the  condition 
that  the  masses  cooperate  most  energetically. 

3.  The  union  of  any  group  of  functions  into  one 
whole  may  be  determined  exclusively  by  their  proximity 
and  similarity,  else  there  is  a  possibility  of  the  least  ef- 
ficient combination  of  all  or  any  individual  branches 
of  government  activity,  to  the  detriment  of  the  regular 
development  and  direction  of  the  same  aud  to  the  cer- 
tain amount  of  independence  so  necessary  to  each  and 
every  one  of  the  activities. 

4.  The  medico-prophylactic  activity,  like  the  entire 
institution  for  social  insurance  and  labor  safeguards, 
must  be  united,  i.  e.,  both  the  organizing  and  organic 
work  is  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  bodies  and  institu- 
tions specially  created  for  that  purpose,  and  depending 
from  the  same  common  central  body.  As  regards  the 
necessary  differentiation  of  labor  it  must  be  carried  out 
exclusively  within  the  common  bodies,  but  under  no  cir- 
cumstances must  it  be  done  by  means  of  tearing  away 
from  them  of  any  of  the  parts  closely  bound  through 
common  problems  and  peculiarities  of  the  work,  no 
matter  how  considerable  each  of  them,  taken  apart, 
might  be. 


214     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'* 

In  view  of  the  above  principles,  the  Congress  resolves 
that : 

1.  The  Commissariat  of  Public  Health  must  be  amal- 
gamated with  the  Department  of  Social  Insurance  and 
Labor  Safeguards. 

2.  All  organs  of  social  insurance  and  labor  safe- 
guards must  be  built  from  top  to  bottom  entirely  on 
the  basis  of  vocational  unions'  representation. 

3.  The  question  of  the  order  of  uniting  the  Commis- 
sariat of  Public  Health  with  the  Department  of  Social 
Insurance  and  Labor  Safeguards  of  the  People's  Com- 
missariat of  Labor  is  given  over  to  the  Central  Execu- 
tive  Committee  for  consideration. 


CULTURAL  AND  EDUCATIONAL  WORK  OF  THE 
VOCATIONAL  UNIONS  AND  VOCA- 
TIONAL TRAINING 

{Resolutwn  based  on  Tzyperovich's  and  Kossior's  re- 
ports) 

1.  The  Socialist  revolution  has  put  before  the  pro- 
letariat a  series  of  the  most  important  problems  in  the 
field  of  reconstruction.  Simultaneously  and  in  connec- 
tion with  the  revolutionization  of  the  economic  relations, 
the  working  class,  as  the  standard-bearer  of  Socialism, 
must  get  down  to  the  work  of  creating  a  proletarian 
culture,  instead  of  that  of  the  bourgeoisie,  in  order  to 
prepare  the  masses  for  the  complete  realization  of  the 
Socialist  Commonwealth. 

2.  The  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,  enabling  the 
working  class  to  fully  utilize  all  the  cultural  acquisitions 
of  mankind,  is  already  now  putting  forward  a  new  crea- 
tive form  of  the  cultural  movement,  in  the  shape  of 
proletarian  cultural  organizations. 


APPENDIX  215 

3.  Vocational  unions,  as  working  class  organizations, 
notwithstanding  all  their  weakness  and  the  isolation 
of  the  proletarian  cultural  organizations  from  the 
masses  of  the  working  class  must  organically  enter  into 
their  work,  concentrating  within  them  all  their  activity 
for  the  general  work  along  questions  of  science  and  art 
and  endeavoring  with  a  view  to  making  it  sound,  to 
subject  their  activity  to  the  influence  and  guidance  of 
the  industrially  organized  laboring  masses. 

4.  The  Vocational  Unions  are  also  facing  as  an  im- 
mediate problem  the  utilization  on  as  large  a  scale  as 
possible  of  those  facilities  which  have  been  created  by 
the  Commissariat  of  Public  Education  in  the  matter  of 
compulsory,  and  free  education,  of  education  for  people 
above  school  age,  for  technical  training,  etc. 

The  vocational  unions  must  have  their  representatives 
in  the  Commissariats  of  Public  Education,  who  are  to 
shed  light  on  the  needs  of  the  trade  union  movement 
and  demand  that  these  needs  be  satisfied  immediately. 

5.  At  the  same  time,  the  vocational  unions  are  to 
continue  their  cultural  and  educational  activity,  creating 
educational  institutions  and  organizations  which  would 
answer  the  immediate  problems  of  the  vocational  move- 
ment. 

6.  The  building  up  of  clubs,  especially  for  the  dis- 
tricts and  provinces,  is  desirable.  The  type  of  a  voca- 
tional-political club  is  preferable,  if  possible  of  a  large 
size. 

7.  It  is  necessary  at  present  to  build  libraries  in 
the  districts.  But  for  the  central  trade-industrial  un- 
ions special  libraries  are  to  a  certain  extent  superfluous 
(outside  of  special  publications,  guides,  etc.)  They 
can  easily  and  with  much  greater  success  be  replaced 
by  public  and  municipal  libraries,  to  which  the  trade- 
industrial  unions  should  turn  their  attention,  by  send- 
ing to  the  same  the  representatives  of  their  cultural-edu- 
cational departments,  as  delegates. 


216     "BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

8.  The  publishing  associations  of  the  individual 
unions  must  be  technically  united  into  one  Publishing 
Association  of  the  Council  of  Unions.  The  program  of 
the  publications  must  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
trade  union  movement,  but  at  the  same  time  it  must 
be  so  flexible  and  elastic  as  to  be  of  service  to  the  agita- 
tional activity  of  the  unions  in  various  directions  (ap- 
peals, bulletins,  etc.).  The  amalgamation  of  the  peri- 
odic trade-union  organs, — is  a  problem  of  the  immediate 
future.  Besides,  it  is  necessary  to  issue  at  present  a 
monthly  or  semi-monthly  magazine  in  order  to  explain 
the  general  questions  of  theory  and  practice  of  the  trade- 
industrial  movement. 

The  organization  of  central  expeditions  for  all  trade 
union  publishing  societies  is  already  now  an  imperative 
necessity. 

9.  In  order  to  materialize  the  above  enumerated 
problems  each  central  body  of  the  trade-industrial 
unions  of  a  given  industry  is  to  have  its  own  cultural 
and  educational  department  whose  activities  are  to  be 
coordinated  by  the  Soviets  (councils)  of  the  Vocational 
Unions  at  the  center  and  in  the  local  branches. 

On  the  question  of  vocational  training  the  Congress 
finds  that: 

1.  Vocational  training,  as  one  of  the  mightiest  wea- 
pons in  the  general  system  of  cultural-industrial  socialist 
education  of  the  working  class,  may  attain  its  object  on 
condition  that,  together  with  the  vocational  training  of 
the  workers  along  the  lines  of  skilled  labor,  they  will 
also  be  given  a  general  industrial  education,  acquainting 
them  with  the  general  questions  of  the  condition  of 
technical  and  industrial  development,  political  econ- 
omy, economic  geography,  and  also  the  questions  of  ad- 
ministrative and  technical  management  of  an  enterprise. 

2.  Vocational  training  is  concentrated  in  the  hands 
of  the  Committee  on  Vocational  Training,  which  is 
formed  at  the   Commissariat  of  Public  Education  of 


APPENDIX  217 

the  representatives  of  the  vocational  unions.  The  Com- 
mittee is  given  charge  of  the  general  direction,  financing 
and  working  out  of  a  single  program  in  the  field  of  vo- 
cational training.  For  the  management  of  each  individ- 
ual school  a  School  Soviet  is  formed  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  vocational  union,  the  Commissariat,  and 
the  students. 

3.  Within  each  branch  of  industry,  a  network  of 
vocational  schools  is  to  be  established  as  soon  as  the 
needs  and  requirements  of  the  corresponding  All-Rus- 
sian  Vocational  Association  are  made  known.  In  the 
first  place  the  schools  are  being  organized  in  those  places 
and  points  for  the  preparation  of  such  groups  and  types, 
of  skilled  workers  as  will  be  found  necessary  by  the 
proper  industrial  associations. 

4.  The  cultural  and  educational  departments  of  the 
All-Russian  Industrial  Associations  are  connected  with 
the  Committee  on  Vocational  Training  of  the  Commis- 
sariat of  Education  and  are  to  determine  both  the  quan- 
tity and  type  of  school  needed  and  the  technical  possi- 
bility of  their  opening  in  this  or  that  particular  locality. 
The  Committee  is  bound  immediately  to  satisfy  these 
demands,  in  case  of  necessity  taking  a  census  of  the 
technical  personnel  available  as  instructors  in  vocational 
schools. 

5.  The  vocational  unions  will  utilize  the  schools  for 
the  organization  of  courses  and  lectures  on  questions  of 
theory  and  practice  of  the  labor  movement,  striving  at 
their  widest  possible  development  and  their  transforma- 
tion into  a  disseminator  of  all  kinds  of  cultural  and 
technical  knowledge  among  the  proletarian  masses. 


218     ''BARBAKOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA»» 
THE  QUESTION  OF  PROVISIONING 

(A  resolution  hosed  on  Comrade  Antzelovich's  report) 

Fully  supporting  the  general  principal  policy  of  the 
Workers'  and  Peasants'  Government  on  the  questions 
of  provisioning  and  supplying  the  population,  taking  into 
consideration  the  extraordinary  difficulty  of  the  food 
situation,  caused  by  the  general  conditions  of  the  mo- 
ment and  by  the  weakness  of  the  food  supplying  appar- 
atus, the  Congress  resolves  to  give  its  best  forces  to  the 
work  of  organization  of  the  provisioning  work,  to  con- 
tinue the  work  of  mobilization  and  centralization  for 
this  purpose  of  the  proletarian  forces  on  an  all-Russian 
scale,  and  is  hereby  submitting  for  the  approval  of  the 
Council  of  People's  Commissaries  the  provisions  stated 
below : 

1.  The  Congress  recognizes  the  War-Provisioning 
Bureau  of  the  All-Russian  Soviet  of  Vocational  Unions, 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  adopted  by 
the  Soviet,  as  the  central  body  in  charge  of  mobiliza- 
tion and  distribution  of  the  proletarian  forces  in  the 
field  of  provisioning. 

In  order  to  fulfil  its  tasks  the  War-Provisioning  Bu- 
reau of  the  All-Russian  Soviet  of  Vocational  Unions: 
(a)  mobilizes  the  labor  power,  selecting  it  from  among 
the  vocational  unions  and  their  organs  (the  shop  com- 
mittees, etc.)  ;  (b)  promotes  the  workers  into  the  po- 
sitions of  members  of  the  colleges,  provincial  provision- 
ing committees,  district  provisioning  committees,  and 
other  provisioning  organizations,  appointing  them  to 
office  through  the  People's  Commissariat  for  provision- 
ing; (c)  sends  the  workers'  provisioning  detachments 
composed  of  the  best  forces  into  the  villages  to  do  the 
work  of  organization.  The  detachments  are  working 
under  the  leadership  of  members  delegated  by  the  War- 
Provisioning  Bureau  into  the  local  provisioning  bodies, 


APPENDIX  219 

and  are  to  act  as  auxiliary  organizations  to  those  pro- 
visioning bodies;  {d)  it  organizes  the  provisional  ex- 
peditions with  special  tasks  to  aid  the  provisioning  or- 
ganizations among  them  in  the  localities  freed  from 
occupation;  (e)  it  organizes  the  work  of  labor  inspec- 
tion, working  under  the  control  of  the  War-Provisioning 
Bureau,  both  in  the  field  of  provisioning  and  in  the  al- 
lied fields  of  transportation,  etc.;  the  problems  of  in- 
spection consist  of  the  renovation,  reorganization  and 
the  placing  of  the  entire  system  of  provisioning  bodies 
on  a  proletarian  basis;  (/)  it  selects  with  the  aid  of  the 
proper  vocational  unions  specialists  in  different  lines 
of  the  provisioning  work,  making  them  available  to  fill 
executive  offices;  (g)  in  its  work  the  Central  War-Pro- 
visioning Bureau  is  leaning  for  support  on  the  auxiliary 
local  war-provisioning  bureaus  of  the  Soviets  of  Voca- 
tional Unions,  uniting  the  entire  activity  of  the  vocation- 
al unions  for  the  betterment  of  the  provisioning  work. 

2.  From  the  point  of  view  of  unity  of  the  general 
system  of  distribution  of  necessaries,  the  Congress  deems 
it  necessary  to  put  into  practice  in  full  measure  the  par- 
ticipation- of  labor  cooperation  in  the  matter  of  distribu- 
ting the  products  so  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  and 
labor,  all  the  united  system  of  distribution  may  be  or- 
ganized after  the  pattern  of  a  single  type  of  consumers' 
communes. 

Workers'  cooperative  societies  must  become  the  chief 
distributors  of  products  among  the  workers. 

Considering  it  necessary  thus  to  impose  on  the  work- 
ers' cooperative  societies  the  extremely  important  task 
of  constructive  Socialist  work  and  the  work  of  actually 
supplying  the  workers  with  the  necessaries,  without 
which  the  productivity  of  labor  cannot  be  increased,  the 
Congress  holds  that  these  functions  can  best  be  carried 
out  by  the  workers'  cooperatives  on  the  following  con- 
ditions: (a)  the  creation  of  a  united  organized  basis 
for  the  cooperative  and  vocational  associations  (factory 


220     "BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

or  mill  committees),  which  is  to  be  carried  into  practice 
by  means  of  an  agreement  between  the  All-Russian 
Council  of  Vocational  Unions  and  the  All-Russian  Coun- 
cil of  Workers'  Cooperative  Societies;  (&)  the  All-Rus- 
sian  Councils  of  Vocational  Unions  and  the  Workers' 
Cooperative  Societies  exchange  representatives;  (c)  all 
members  of  the  vocational  unions  must  join  the  Work- 
ers* Cooperative  Society  and  every  member  of  the  latter 
must  become  a  member  of  a  vocational  union;  (d)  the 
common  leading  body  of  the  workers'  cooperative  socie- 
ties must  be  the  meeting  of  representatives  (conferences) 
of  the  shop  committees  and  collective  associations,  unit- 
ing the  employees  and  the  laborers  not  occupied  in  the 
mills  and  factories;  (e)  the  workers'  cooperatives  must 
immediately  be  induced  to  participate  in  the  broadest 
possible  manner  in  the  work  of  organizing  all  munici- 
pal commerce;  the  control  and  general  direction  in  the 
matter  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  provisioning  bod- 
ies; (/)  the  existing  special  productive-distributive  or- 
gans such  as  that  in  charge  of  transportation  of  the  pro- 
visions, waterway  transportation  of  provisions,  (canals, 
rivers,  etc.),  must  be  transformed  into  well  organized, 
open  workers*  cooperative  societies;  (g)  the  workers* 
cooperative  societies  are  to  be  induced  to  take  up  the 
practical  work  of  organization  of  these  branches  of  in- 
dustry whose  scale  and  problems  justify  such  work,  and 
which  are  engaged  in  the  production  of  the  prime  ne- 
cessities. 

3.  The  furnishing  of  the  proletariat  with  the  prod- 
ucts provided  for  it  by  the  government  plans  of  distribu- 
tion, must  be  insured  through  the  appropriation  of  a 
special  fund  for  the  purpose  on  the  plan  adopted  for 
the  army.  The  special  department  of  the  Commissar- 
iat for  Provisioning  which  is  in  charge  of  the  planning, 
calculating,  and  distributing  of  the  products  intended 
for  the  workers,  must  be  organized  in  accordance  with 
an  understanding  between  the  All-Russian  Council  of 


APPENDIX  221 

Vocational  Unions  and  the  Council  of  "Workers'  Cooper- 
atives, and  it  must  not  form  its  own  technical  and  econ- 
omic apparatus. 

4.  In  order  to  help  the  methods  of  proletarian  work 
to  permeate  more  fully  the  entire  system  of  the  pro- 
visioning institutions  it  is  necessary  to  inject  into  their 
midst  representatives  of  Vocational  Unions  and  Work- 
ers' Cooperative  Societies,  particularly  representatives 
of  the  All-Russian  Council  of  Vocational  Unions  and 
the  All-Russian  Council  of  Cooperative  Societies,  into 
the  Collegium  of  the  People's  Commissariat  for  Pro- 
.visioning. 

In  the  matter  of  preparing  the  products  which  are 
subject  to  monopoly,  by  government  counter-agents  (as 
per  decree  of  January  21st)  the  central  workers'  co- 
operatives (city)  and  all  centralized  workers'  coopera- 
tive organizations  (regional,  provincial  and  all-Russian) 
are  to  be  called  upon  to  help,  while  the  matter  of  pre- 
paring the  products  not  subject  to  monopoly  should  be 
entirely  given  over  to  the  cooperative  societies,  headed 
by  the  Workers'  Cooperative  Society,  the  management 
to  be  given  over  to  the  Central  Buying  Committee  (Tzen- 
trozakup)  and  a  corresponding  portion  of  the  products 
is  to  be  set  aside  for  the  needs  of  the  army. 

5.  In  order  to  create  a  solid  basis  in  the  matter  of 
supplying  farm  products  and  with  a  view  to  intensify- 
ing agriculture  and  other  types  of  farming  it  is  neces- 
sary to  call  upon  the  workers'  cooperative  societies  to 
properly  utilize  and  organize  the  large  Soviet  agricul- 
tural establishments  and  other  farming  undertakings. 

6.  For  the  successful  solution  of  its  tasks  in  the  do- 
main of  Socialist  construction  work  it  is  necessary  to 
bring  about  the  closest  organizational  union  and  coordi- 
nation of  activity  of  the  vocational  unions  and  workers' 
cooperative  societies  in  the  matter  of  raising  the  class 
consciousness  of  that  proletariat  and,  for  this  purpose, 
the  joint  organization  of  workers'  homes,  clubs,  insti- 
tutes for  practitioners,  and  so  on. 


222     ''BAKBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA*' 
THE  QUESTION  OF  ORGANIZATION 

{Resolution  based  on  M.  Tomsky's  report) 
1. 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES 

1.  Adapting  its  organizations  to  the  conditions  of 
the  economic  struggle  in  capitalist  society,  the  working 
class  in  the  interests  of  economy  and  concentration  of 
its  divided  forces,  gradually  passed  over  from  the  close 
narrow  guild  organizations  to  the  broader  vocational 
and,  finally,  in  the  course  of  struggle  against  capitalism, 
building  its  forces  on  the  principle  of  more  efficient  cen- 
tralization of  power  for  the  realization  of  its  war  aims 
(class  war  aims),  it  came  to  form  organizations  embrac- 
ing all  the  workers  of  a  given  branch  of  industry  (pro- 
duction)  into  one  union. 

The  industrial  union  is  one  union  having  the  follow- 
lowing  basic  characteristics:  {a)  the  union  rallies  all 
the  workers  and  other  employees  engaged  in  a  given 
branch  of  production,  regardless  of  his  functions;  (&) 
the  treasury  is  centralized;  (c)  the  business  of  the  union 
is  transacted  on  the  basis  of  democratic  centralization; 

(d)  the  wage  scales  and  conditions  of  labor  are  deter- 
mined by  one  central  body  for  all  the  categories  of  labor ; 

(e)  a  uniform  principle  of  construction  from  top  to 
bottom;  (/)  the  sections  are  playing  the  part  of  techni- 
cal and  auxiliary  organs;  (g)  the  interests  of  the  in- 
dustrially organized  workers  and  other  employees  of  a 
given  industry  are  represented  before  the  outside  world 
by  one  central  body. 

2.  The  industrial  union  comprises  only  the  perma- 
nent workers  and  employees  of  a  given  industry  who 
are  directly  engaged  in  the  process  of  production  or 
serve  to  aid  the  same.     All  auxiliary  branches  serving 


APPENDIX  223 

not  production  hut  the  producers  and  all  the  temporary 
and  casual  help  remain  members  of  their  industrial 
union. 

3.  This  principle  of  construction  of  our  unions  rec- 
ognized by  the  third  Conference  of  the  Vocational 
Unions,  and  by  the  first  AU-Russian  Congress  of  Voca- 
tional Unions,  presupposing  the  union  of  all  the  workers 
of  a  given  industry  into  one  organization  (union),  can  be 
consistently  carried  into  practice  only  by  means  of  unit- 
ing all  the  workers  and  employees  ("higher"  and  "low- 
er") into  one  union,  which  became  possible  of  realiza- 
tion only  after  the  political  and  economic  prejudices 
separating  the  laborer  from  the  other  employees  and 
from  the  technical  personnel  have  been  done  away  with. 

4.  Even  if  the  first  Congress  of  Vocational  Unions 
considered  it  impracticable  to  unite  into  one  union  all 
the  higher  employees  and  laborers, — at  the  present  mo- 
ment, after  a  year  of  proletarian  dictatorship  during 
which  a  good  deal  of  the  antagonism  between  the  dif- 
ferent categories  of  laborers  and  other  employees  has 
been  spent,  when  it  has  been  proved  from  experience 
that  one  union  in  its  turn  leads  to  the  eradication  of  all 
antagonism  in  the  midst  of  the  workers — it  must  now  be 
recognized  as  desirable  and  necessary  to  unite  into  one 
union  all  persons  who  are  wage  workers  engaged  in  one 
establishment,  one  industry  or  one  institution. 

Only  in  such  establishments  or  institutions  where 
the  hiring  of  laborers  and  other  employees  and  the  in- 
crease or  decrease  of  their  wages  is  being  decided  by 
one  member  of  the  administrative  or  technical  person- 
nel, the  latter  cannot  be  members  of  the  given  union. 

5.  The  industrial  principle  of  union  structure  as  ap- 
plied to  workers  occupied  in  other  branches  of  national 
industries,  than  manufacture  (transportation,  commerce, 
and  farming) ,  and  also  in  institutions  fulfilling  definite 
functions  of  government  (postal-telegraph,  medico-sani- 


224     ''BAEBAKOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

tary  departments,  education,  etc.),  must  be  used  to 
unite  the  workers  of  small  isolated  branches  of  industry 
and  management  into  more  powerful  unions.  As  a  basis 
for  such  amalgamation  one  must  take  the  similarity  of 
conditions  of  labor  and  the  functions  carried  out. 

6.  Categorically  defending  the  consistent  introduc- 
tion and  application  of  the  principle  underlying  pro- 
duction as  regards  all  categories  of  workers,  not  accept- 
ing into  its  labor  organizations  those  unions  which  are 
built  on  guild,  corporation  and  narrow  trade  lines,  for 
the  purpose  of  better  serving  the  economic  interests  of 
the  most  typical  industrial  groups  and  categories,  the 
organization  of  sections  on  a  local  and  national  scale 
is  allowed  within  each  vocational  union. 

The  unions  binding  together  several  allied  branches 
of  industry  have  the  right  to  form  industrial  sections, 
the  same  having  the  right  to  call  independent  Congresses 
in  order  to  decide  the  questions  of  their  own  industry, 
on  condition  however,  that  the  decisions  of  such  sec- 
tional Congresses,  which  will  be  contrary  to  the  rulings 
of  the  general  Congress  or  the  regulations  of  the  lead- 
ing organs  of  the  labor  union  movement,  may  be  an- 
nulled by  the  leading  body  of  the  industrial  union. 

7.  Striving  towards  unity  and  smooth  work  in  labor 
union  activity  and  the  greatest  efficiency  in  the  utiliza- 
tion of  the  power  and  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  labor 
unions,  it  is  necessary  to  recognize  most  definitely  the 
principle  of  centralization  of  the  union  organization, 
based  on  unity  and  centralization  of  union  finances  and 
strict  inter  and  intra-union  discipline. 

8.  With  this  principle  as  a  starting-point,  the  or- 
ganization of  the  section  cannot  have  the  character  of 
open  or  masked  federalism.  Under  no  circumstances 
could  the  sections  be  allowed  to  have  separate  sectional 
treasuries,  additional  assessment  of  members  of  the  sec- 


APPENDIX  225 

tions  for  organization  and  agitation  and  generally  for 
any  work  of  the  union,  neither  can  they  be  allowed  in- 
dependent representation  outside  of  the  union  or  to  build 
the  leading  union  organs,  committees,  on  the  principle  of 
sectional  representation. 

9.  In  exceptional  cases  of  reconstruction  of  the  ex- 
isting federated  unions  into  a  centralized  industrial 
union,  only  as  an  allowance  for  the  transitional  stage 
the  Executive  Committee  elected  at  the  meeting  of  all 
the  delegates  or  at  the  meeting  of  the  All-Russian  Con- 
gress, can  be  enlarged  through  the  addition  of  represen- 
tatives of  the  sections,  who  then  have  no  vote,  only  a 
voice. 

10.  All  attempts  to  violate  the  principle  of  indus- 
trial organization  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  fed- 
erated trade  unions  by  means  of  organization  of  the 
inter-sectional  bureaus  uniting  analogous  sections  of 
the  various  industrial  unions,  must  be  emphatically  con- 
demned. 

11.  Fighting  for  the  complete  annihilation  of  classes, 
at  this  transitional  period  of  proletarian  dictatorship, 
the  Russian  trade-union  movement  aiming  at  the  union 
of  all  workers  into  centralized  industrial  unions  for  the 
purpose  of  subjecting  the  semi-proletarian  elements  to 
the  influence  of  the  economically  organized  proletariat 
and  inducing  it  to  enter  the  class  struggle  and  take  part 
in  Socialist  reconstruction;  we  think  it  necessary  to  get 
the  new,  and  as  yet  unorganized,  strata  of  government 
and  social  workers  to  join  the  All-Russian  Vocational 
Associations,  on  condition  of  their  complete  submission 
to  proletarian  discipline  and  to  all  regulations  of  the 
leading  central  bodies  of  the  trade  union  movement,  and 
particularly,  the  principles  of  organization. 

12.  At  the  same  time  it  would  be  the  greatest  error 
at  the  present  stage  of  development  of  our  trade  union 
movement  with  its  insufficient  degree  of  organization, 


226     ^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

to  infuse  into  it  the  craftsmen  and  small  shop  owners 
who  due  to  their  isolation  and  unorganized  state,  do  not 
allow  of  proletarian  control;  the  same  applies  to  the 
labor  ''artels,"  "unions  of  labor  communes"  and  so- 
called  professional  people  who  are  not  wage  workers. 

Being  the  representatives  of  the  dying  crafts  and 
petty  bourgeois  industry,  these  elements  permeated  with 
the  conservative  economic  ideology  of  individual  and 
small-scale  production  (artel),  due  to  their  numerical 
size,  are  liable  to  disorganize  the  ranks  of  the  economi- 
cally organized  proletariat. 

13.  Considering  as  the  only  correct  and  fundamental 
basis  for  the  union  of  the  workers  into  industrial  unions, 
the  economic  basis  (the  economic  part  played  by  the 
groups  of  laborers  in  the  general  system  of  national 
economy),  the  All-Russian  Vocational  Association  can- 
not accept  into  its  midst  unions  huilt  along  natioTial,  re- 
ligious, and  generally,  any  unions  not  huilt  (dang  econ- 
omic lines. 

14.  Uniting  the  laborers  and  other  employees  into 
unions,  independently  of  their  political  and  religious 
beliefs,  the  Russian  trade  union  movement  as  a  whole, 
taking  the  position  of  the  international  class  struggle, 
resolutely  condemns  the  idea  of  neutralism,  and  consid- 
ers it  a  prerequisite  for  the  admission  of  individual 
unions  into  the  all-Russian  and  local  associations — ^that 
they  recognize  the  revolutionary  class  struggle  for  the 
realization  of  socialism  ty  means  of  the  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat. 

15.  Regarding  the  Russian  labor-union  movement  as 
one  close  proletarian  class  organization,  having  one  com- 
mon class  aim — to  win  aiid  organize  the  socialist  sys- 
tem, one  must  admit  that  any  member  of  any  industrial 
union,  aiSliated  with  the  all-Russian  or  local  union  coun- 
cil, who  is  fulfilling  his  duties  as  such,  being  at  the  same 
time  a  member  of  the  All-Russian  General  Vocational 


APPENDIX  227 

Association,  upon  being  transferred  from  one  industry 
to  another,  joins  the  proper  union  ivith  the  rights  of  an 
old  member,  without  paying  any  initiation  fee.  No  one 
must  be  at  the  same  time  a  member  of  two  unions. 

16.  This  latter  rule  wholly  applies  also  to  the  group 
transfer  of  whole  establishments  from  one  union  to  an- 
other— 710  payments  are  to  he  made  ou.t  of  the  trea'sury 
of  the  unions,  nor  are  to  he  made  either  to  the  m,emhers 
who  leave  it  or  to  the  union  into  which  they  are  trans- 
ferred, by  the  first  union. 

17.  Endeavoring  to  better  the  economic  conditions 
of  all  the  workers,  regardless  of  whether  they  are  mem- 
bers of  the  union  or  not,  the  unions  taking  upon  them- 
selves the  responsibility  for  the  proper  functioning  of 
an  establishment  or  institution,  for  the  labor  discipline 
among  the  workers  and  the  enforcement  of  the  union 
regulations  of  wages  and-  standards'  of  production,  the 
unions  must  endeavor  to  introduce  compulsory  member- 
ship in  all  the  establishments  and  institutions  entering 
into  it,  through  resolutions  adopted  at  general  meetings 
of  the  workers. 

18.  Recognizing  the  necessity  of  a  united  plan  for  the 
contruction  of  all  trade  unions  as  the  only  condition  in- 
suring right  relations'  between  the  individual  local  or- 
ganizations and  their  centers,  also  insuring  the  enforce- 
ment of  union*  regulations  and  union  discipline,  the 
second  Congress  thinks  it  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  unity  of  activity  on  a  local  as  well  as  national 
scale,  to  adopt  a  united  scheme  for  the  structure  of  the 
industrial. unions  and  their  combines. 


228     ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA' » 

2. 

THE  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  TRADE  UNIONS  AND 
SOVIETS: 

1.  The  highest  directing  body  of  the  all-Russian 
labor  union  movement  is  the  All-Russian  Congress  of 
Trade  Unions  and  the  All-Russian  Central  Soviet  of  Vo- 
cational Unions  operating  from  one  Congress  to  the 
other,  on  the  basis  of  principle  regulations  adopted  by 
the  Congress. 

Note.    A  conference  is  called  only  in  case  it  is 
impossible  to  call  a  properly  organized  congre^. 

2.  All  regulations  of  the  All-Russian  Congresses, 
Conferences  and  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  of  the 
Industrial  Unions  are  compulsory  not  only  to  all  the 
unions,  affiliated  with  the  All-Russian  Voactional  As- 
sociation, but  for  every  individual  member  of  a  union, 
as"  well. 

3.  Vwlation  of  the  rules  and  disregard  of  the  same 
on  the  part  of  individual*  unions  carries  with  it  expulsion 
of  such-  a  union,  from  the  family  of  the  proletarian* 
unions. 

4.  The  supreme  organ  of  the  All-Russian  Industrial 
Union  is  its  Central  Committee ;  all  rulings  of  that  com- 
mittee which  do  not  contradict  the  regulations  issued 
by  the  higher  councils  of  the  All-Russian  General  Vo- 
cational Association  are  obligatory  for  all  of  its  bran<jhes 
and  for  each  and  every  one  of  its  members. 

5.  All  local  councils  of  the  unions  are  being  con- 
structed according  to  the  plan  of  the  All-Russian  Cen- 
tral Council  of  the  Vocational  Unions,  with  a  corres- 
ponding proportional  change  of  numerical  ratio.  All 
congresses  of  vocational  unions  are  being  called  on  the 
principle  of  direct  proportion. 


APPENDIX  229 

6.  The  rulings  of  the  All-Russian  Industrial  Unions 
cannot  be  nullified  by  the  rulings  of  the  local  councils 
of  unions  and  are  obligatory  for  the  organs  of  the  given 
union  in  each  locality. 

7.  The  local  councils  of  the  Vocational  Unions  being 
the  leading  organs  of  the  labor  union  movement  and  au- 
thorized representatives  of  the  entire  proletariat,  eco- 
nomically organized  within  a  certain  locality,  are  at  the 
same  time  guided  in  their  activities  by  all  the  rules 
of  the  All-Russian  Congresses,  Conferences  and  the  AU. 
Russian  Central  Council  of  the  Trade-Industrial  Unions^ 
and  as  regards  the  branches  of  the  industrial  unions, 
the  regulations  laid  down  by  their  guiding  central  bod- 
ies  are  obligatory.  The  rulings  of  the  local  Trade  Union 
Councils  which  are  in  contradiction  to  the  regulations 
of  the  policy  of  the  entire  unions  or  their  managing 
bodies,  are  not  obligatory  for  the  local  branches  of  the 
industrial  unions. 

8.  The  branches  of  the  All-Russian  Industrial 
Unions  affiliated  with  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade 
Unions  Council  automatically  enter  into  the  local  Trade 
Union  Councils. 

9.  The  local  Trade  Union.  Councils  are  to  see  to  it 
that  the  unions  are  properly  organized,  and  that  they 
follow  the  directions  issued  by  the  governing  bodies  and 
fulfil  their  firlancial  obligations  towards  the  unions;  they 
are  also  to  aid  and  support  them  in  their  activities. 

10.  In  the  interests  of  centralization  of  union  activ- 
ity, the  strengthening  of  the  ties  between  the  centers 
and  the  local  bodies,  and  in  order  to  place  the  finances 
of  the  unions  on  a  proper  plane  and  bring  about  closer 
cooperation  and  connection  between  the  trade  unions 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  organs  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil of  National  Economy  and  the  Commissariat  of  La- 
bor, on  the  other,  in  the  work  of  bringing  about  a  uni- 


230     ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

form  structure  of  the  Trade  Unions  and  Union  Councils 
and  standardizing  the  wage  scales  throughout  the  coun- 
try,— one  must  admit  that  the  geographical  (provincial) 
amalgamations  as  well  as  the  provincial  Union  Councils 
are  only  unnecessary  organs  of  transmission  between 
the  center  and  the  periphery  which  constitute  a  non- 
productive expenditure  of  energy  and  means. 

11.  The  All-Russian  Centers,  their  branches  and 
subdivisions  in  the  various  localities,  united  through 
the  Trade  Union  Councils,  constructed  after  the  pat- 
tern of  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council, 
the  Shop  Committees  or  Employees'  Associations  (Col- 
lective Associations)  as  the  original  nuclei  of  the  trade 
unions — this  is  the  best  scheme  of  organization  struc- 
ture, answering  the  basic  problems  at  the  present  mo- 
ment confronting  the  trade  union  movement.  Territor- 
ial grouping  according  to  divisions  and  subdivisions 
should  be  established  by  the  All-Russian  Central  body 
of  the  given  union,  depending  upon  the  geographical 
area  and  degree  of  concentration  of  any  given  branch 
of  industry,  keeping,  insofar  as  possible  within  the  boun- 
daries fixed  by  the  administrative  divisions. 

Only  by  observing  the  given  scheme  of  organization 
can  the  finances  of  the  union  be  placed  on  a  proper  level 
and  the  centers  receive  due  financial  strength,  which 
is  a  necessary  condition  for  further  and  more  systema- 
tic activity. 

12.  The  most  suitable  principle  by  which  to  deter- 
mine the  membership  dues  during  the  period  of  chronic 
depreciation  of  paper  money  would  be  a  proportional 
assessment.  The  normal  amount  of  membership  dues, 
the  Congress  considers  is  one  per  cent  of  the  wages 
earned.  Special  additional  dues  or  assessments  for 
special  needs  of  the  local  divisions  of  the  industrial 
unions  are  allowed  only  upon  the  resolution  of  general 
meetings,  or  meetings  of  delegates  or  conferences  of  a 
given  union. 


APPENDIX  231 

13.  Regarding  the  Branch  of  the  Industrial  Union 
(within  a  province  or  region)  as  the  highest  organ  of 
the  union  in  the  given  locality  (government  or  region), 
as  the  first  step  toward  the  actual  realization  of  the 
centralization  of  the  union  funds,  the  Congress  considers 
the  following  financial  relations  as  necessary: 

(a)  Fifty  per  cent  of  all  membership  dues  of  the 
branches  of  the  .All-Russian  Central  Industrial  Union 
go  to  the  All-Russian  Central  Committee  of  the  given 
Industrial  Union. 

(&)  The  divisions  (district  and  sub-regional)  of  a 
branch  (government  or  region)  of  a  Union  work  ac- 
cording to  the  budget  appproved  by  the  latter. 

(c)  Ten  per  cent  of  all  the  funds  remaining  at  the 
disposal  of  a  branch  of  a  union  goes  to  the  local  Trade 
Union  Council. 

(d)  The  local  bureaus  of  the  Trade  Unions  (in  small 
towns)  exist  on  10  per  cent  of  the  budget  appropriated 
by  the  branch  of  the  industrial  union  to  its  divisions. 

(e)  The  local  unions  which  are  not  affiliated  with 
any  all-Russian  union  associations  are  to  give  10  per 
cent  to  the  local  Trade  Union  Council,  and  10  per  cent 
to  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  trans- 
ferred through  the  local  Trade   Union   Council. 

14.  All  trade  organizations  as  well  as  members  who 
have  not  met  their  financial  obligations  within  three 
months  without  sufficient  reasons,  are  automatically  ex- 
pelled from  their  union  and  from  the  All-Russian  Trade 
Association,  and  can  be  reinstated  only  upon  payment  of 
the  sum  they  owe  plus  the  usual  initiation  fee. 

15.  The  following  initiation  fees  are  to  be  fixed: 
(a)  half  a  day's  wages  for  individual  members  entering 
the  union,  (&)  the  All-Russian  Trade  Union  upon  en- 
tering the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council 
pays  10  per  cent  of  all  the  initiation  fees  collected  from 
the  total  number  of  its  members,  (c)  the  same  amount 
is  paid  by  all  the  branches  of  the  All-Russian  Trade 


232     ^'BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

Unions  upon  their  admission  into  the  local  Trade  Union 
Council,  (d)  the  local  unions  which  have  no  all-Russian 
trade  union  pay  upon  entering  the  local  council  10 
per  cent  of  the  initiation  fees  collected,  a  half  of  which 
amount  goes  to  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union 
Council. 

16.  In  the  interests  of  the  development  of  union 
activity  with  the  present  character  of  the  Russian  trade 
union  movement,  all  special  funds  which  cannot  be 
touched,  such  as  the  strike  fund,  the  reserve  funds, 
etc,  must  be  annulled  as  such  and  added  to  the  rest 
of  the  union's  general  treasury.  The  fund  for  the 
aid  of  unions  outside  of  Soviet  Russia  is  being  created 
by  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  for 
which  purpose  special  collections  and  contributions  are 
to  be  used. 

17.  In  the  interests  of  the  proper  arrangement  of 
the  control  system,  the  simplification  and  systematiza- 
tion  of  the  union 's  business,  we  must  make  it  obligatory 
to  have  a  single  uniform  system,  as  worked  out  by  the 
All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council. 

18.  The  basic  nucleus  of  the  Industrial  Union  on 
the  spot  is  the  Factory  Committee  or  the  Collective  As- 
sociation of  the  office  employees  in  the  form  of  an  Of- 
fice Workers'  Union. 

19.  "Regulations  of  the  Factory  and  Mill  Commit- 
mittees"  adopted  by  the  Moscow  Trade  Union  Council 
and  approved  by  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  of 
the  Industrial  Unions  coordinated  with  the  resolutions 
of  the  present  second  All-Russian  Congress  of  Trade 
Unions  must  be  used  as  the  basis  for  the  determination 
of  the  part,  the  tasks  and  interrelations  of  the  Factory 
and  Mill  Committees  with  the  other  organizations. 

20.  As  a  basis  for  the  regulations  governing  the  Em- 
ployees' Associations  (Collective  Associations),  in  addi- 
tion to  the  general  principles  which  form  the  basis  of  the 


APPENDIX  233 

" Factory  and  Mill  Committee  Regulations,"  the  follow- 
ing principles  are  to  be  laid  down: 

(a)  Participation  in  the  hiring  and  dismissal  of  em- 
ployees, (fc)  obligatory  participation  in  the  Wage  Scale 
Committees  and  endeavor  to  see  to  it  that  the  wage 
scale  regulations  be  carried  out  in  practice,  (c)  the  rec- 
ognition of  the  collective  association  and  its  rights  to 
exist  only  as  an  organ  of  the  corresponding  union,  (d) 
participation  in  the  organization  and  improvement  of 
the  technical  apparatus  of  the  given  institution,  (e)  non- 
interference with  the  general  direction  of  the  activities 
of  the  state  and  social  institutions. 

The  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  is  au- 
thorized within  the  shortest  time  to  work  out  and  pub- 
lish the  regulations  of  the  Factory  and  Mill  Commit- 
tees and  the  Employees'  Collective  Associations. 

21.  To  avoid  mixing  up  of  terms  and  ideas  regard- 
ing the  character  of  the  union  organs  we  must  recognize 
the  uniform  terminology  of  the  same,  as  carrying  out 
the  same  functions,  namely: 

(a)  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  retains 
its  name,  (h)  the  leading  organs  of  the  All-Russian 
Trade  Unions  are  called  ''Central  Committee  of  the 
Trade  Unions,"  their  executive  organs  are  to  be  called: 
"Presidium  of  the  Central  Committee  of  the  Trade 
Unions,"  (c)  their  government  (province)  organs — 
"The  management  of  the  government  (province)  or 
regional,  branch  of  the  All-Russian  Trade  Union,"  (d) 
the  Local  Government  Trade  Union  Councils  are  called : 
"Such  and  such  Government  Trade  Union  Council,"  and 
the  district  councils  as  well  as  the  small  town  councils 
"Such  and  such  District  Trade  Union  Bureau,"  "Such 
and   such    Trade   Union   Bureau." 

22.  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  on  the 
basis  of  the  principles  laid  down,  must  work  out  in 
the  shortest  possible  period  the  following  sample  by- 
laws which  are  to  be  obligatory  for  all  trade  organiza- 


234    "BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 

tions  affiliated  with  any  of  the  following  All-Kussian 
Trade  Associations: 

(a)  The  All-Russian  Trade  Union,  (b)  local  union 
having  no  corresponding  all-Russian  association,  (c) 
Local  Trade  Union  Council,  {d)  Trade  Union  Bureau. 

23.  The  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council 
must  work  out  and  enact  through  the  People's  Commis- 
sariat of  Labor  and  the  Soviet  of  National  Economy  or 
the  All-Russian  Central  Executive  Committee,  the  regu- 
lations governing  the  coalitions  on  the  following  basis: 
(a)  the  right  to  be  called  a  union  is  given  only  to  trade 
unions  affiliated  with  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade 
Union  Council,  registered  and  published  by  the  latter, 
(h)  all  other  organizations  of  an  economic  character  not 
affiliated  with  the  All-Russian  Trade  Association  are  to 
be  called  ** societies." 

24.  The  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council 
and  the  government  councils  must  periodically  report 
on  all  unions  registered  with  it. 

25.  In  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  or- 
ganization, adopted  at  the  second  Trade  Union  Congress 
the  corresponding  amendments  are  to  be  introduced  into 
the  by-laws  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union 
Council  adopted  by  the  first  All-Russian  Trade  Union 
Congress. 

BY-LAWS     OF     THE     ALL-RUSSIAN     CENTRAL 
TRADES  UNION  COUNCIL 

(Amended  and  approved  by  the  Congress) 

1.  The  All-Russian  Trade  Union  Congress  elects 
an  executive  body  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades 
Union  Council — the  presiding  officers  (Presidium), 
who  are  to  submit  a  detailed  report  on  their  activity 
to  the  following  Congress. 

2.  The   supreme   leading  body   of  the   All-Russian 


APPENDIX  235 

Trade-Union  Association  is  the  All-Russian  Central 
Trade-Union  Council,  which  is  to  be  guided  in  its  activ- 
ity by  resolutions  of  congresses  and  conferences  and 
which  is  responsible  for  its  actions  to  the  All-Russian 
Trades  Union  Congress. 

3.  All  the  regulations  of  the  All-Russian  Congresses, 
Conferences  as  well  as  those  passed  by  the  All-Russian 
Central  Trades  Union  Council  are  obligatory  to  all 
unions  afBliated  with  the  All-Russian  Trades  Union 
Association  as  well  as  to  every  union  member.  The  vio- 
lation of  these  rules  and  disobedience  of  the  same  car- 
ries with  it  expulsion  from  the  family  of  proletarian 
unions. 

4.  The  All-Russian  Central  Council  is  to  fulfil  the 
following  tasks: 

(a.)  It  is  to  maintain  and  establish  a  connection  with 
all  the  existing  and  newly  arising  trade  union  organiza- 
tions ; 

(6.)  It  is  to  aid  in  the  creation  of  local  all-Russian 
vocational  unions  as  well  as  the  amalgamation  of  all 
trades ; 

(c.)  It  is  to  establish  connections  with  the  central 
trade  union  bodies  of  all  countries; 

{d.)  It  is  to  carry  out  all  the  necessary  work  con- 
nected with  the  preparation  and  calling  of  All-Russian 
conferences  and  congresses,  it  works  out  a  program  of 
business  to  be  transacted  by  the  congresses,  it  takes 
eare  of  the  preparation  of  reports,  and  it  publishes  the 
fundamental  principles ; 

(e.)  It  appoints  the  time  for  the  calling  of  confer- 
ences and  congresses ; 

(/.)  It  periodically  publishes  in  the  press  reports  on 
its  activities; 

(g.)     It  issues  its  bulletin  (periodical  organ) ; 

{h.)  It  connects,  and  acts  as  representative  for  the 
entire  trade-union  movement  before  the  Central  govern- 
ment institutions  and  social  organizations; 


236     ^'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

(i.)  It  aids  the  unions  in  their  work  of  organization 
and  guides  tliat  work,  for  which  purpose  it  issues  vari- 
ous by-laws,  instructions,  forms  of  accounting  (book- 
keeping), etc.; 

(j.)  It  takes  part  in  organizations  and  institutions, 
serving  the  interests  of  cultural  and  educational  activity 
among  the  proletariat; 

(k.)  It  aids  in  promoting  the  development  of  the 
trade  union  movement,  by  means  of  verbal  and  written 
propaganda  and  agitation. 

6.  In  order  to  accomplish  its  tasks  successfully,  the 
All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  Council  organizes 
the  necessary  departments. 

7.  The  funds  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades- 
Union  Council  consist  of  the  following:  (a)  10  per  cent 
of  the  membership  dues  collected  by  the  Central  Com- 
mittees of  the  All-Russian  Trade  Union  Association; 
(6)  five  per  cent  of  the  revenue  coming  from  the  local 
unions  not  affiliated  with  the  All-Russian  Trade  Unions, 
but  affiliated,  through  the  local  Soviet,  with  the  All- 
Russian  All-Trades  Association,  (c)  out  of  appropria- 
tions designated  by  the  organs  of  the  Soviet  Government 
for  specific  purposes. 

8.  The  All-Russian  Central  Trade  Union  Council  is 
composed  of  the  following: 

(a)     Nine  members  elected  by  the  Congress,  and 
(&)     Representatives     of     the     All-Russian     Trade 
Unions,  on  the  basis  of  one  delegate  to  every  30,000  to 
50,000  workers,  and  one  more  delegate  to  every  addi- 
tional 50,000  dues-paying  members. 

Note.  All-Russian  Trades  Unions  whose  membership 
is  below  30,000,  send  their  representative,  who  has  a 
voice,  but  no  vote.  Unions  whose  dues-paying  member- 
ship is  below  30,000  may  unite  and  send  a  delegate  to  the 
All-Russian  Trades  Union  Council,  who  will  then  have 
the  right  to  vote  at  the  meetings. 


APPENDIX  237 

9.  The  nine  members  elected  by  the  congress  are  to  be 
the  presiding  officers  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Coun- 
cil ;  in  order  to  effect  a  change  in  the  composition  of  the 
presidium,  a  vote  of  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  gen- 
eral number  of  members  of  the  All-Russian  Central 
Council  is  required,  or  if  the  All-Russian  Associations 
demand  the  recall  of  that  body,  the  total  membership 
of  the  associations  demanding  such  recall  must  exceed 
one-half  of  the  entire  membership  of  the  All-Russian 
Association    comprising   all    trades. 

Note.  The  members  of  the  presidium  (executive 
committee),  are  to  be  replaced  (in  case  they  resign 
or  are  recalled)  at  the  plenary  session  of  the  All-Russian 
Central  Trade  Union  Council, 

10.  Such  recall  and  election  of  a  new  executive  body 
may  take  place  only  in  extraordinary  cases  when  the 
general  conditions  do  not  permit  the  calling  of  an  extra- 
ordinary congress  or  conference. 

11.  A  plenary  session  of  the  All-Russian  Central 
Council  takes  place  at  least  once  a  month.  The  All-Rus- 
sian Central  Council  at  a  meeting  of  all  its  members 
elects  an  auditing  committee  and  other  committees  and 
responsible  officers,  leaving  to  the  executive  commit- 
tee (presiding  officers)  to  organize  branches  (depart- 
ments), to  invite  workers  to  join  them,  etc. 

12.  The  All-Russian  Conference  of  Trades-Unions 
is  to  consist  of  all  the  members  of  the  council  (Soviet), 
and  of  representatives  of  provincial  trades-union  coun- 
cils—one to  every  25,000  members. 

Note.  Representatives  of  All-Russian  Associations 
who  are  admitted  to  the  plenary  session  (plenum)  with 
only  a  voice  and  no  vote,  have  the  right  to  vote  at  the 
conference. 

13.  The  All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  calls  con- 
gresses of  the  trades  unions  at  intervals  not  longer  than 
one  year.  Extraordinary  congresses  are  called  at  the 
decision  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Council,  at  the  de- 


238     '^BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  KUSSIA*' 

mand  of  All-Russian  Associations,  or  in  cases  where 
the  All-Russian  Associations  having  not  less  than  half 
the  total  membership  affiliated  with  the  All-Russian 
Workmen's  Association,  demand  that  an  extraordinary- 
convention  be  called. 

14.  The  right  to  representation  at  the  Trades-Union 
Congresses  is  restricted  to  those  unions  which  in  their 
activity  are  guided  by  the  principles  of  the  international 
class  struggle  of  the  proletariat,  which  are  affiliated  with 
the  local  councils  of  the  trades  unions  and  which  pay 
their  dues  regularly. 

15.  The  following  have  a  right  to  vote  at  the  con- 
gress : 

(a)  The  local  trades  unions  having  a  dues-paying 
membership  of  no  less  than  3,000,  are  entitled  to  one 
delegate,  and  those  whose  membership  exceeds  5,000  are 
entitled  to  one  delegate  for  every  5,000  dues-paying  mem- 
bers (complete  5,000  only,  not  for  any  fraction  there- 
of). 

(ft)  The  central  All-Russian  Associations  are  entitled 
to  one  delegate  each;  but  in  case  the  total  number  of 
workers  affiliated  with  them  exceeds  10,000  they  are  en- 
titled to  two  delegates. 

(c)  Petrograd  and  Moscow  send  three  delegates  each. 

(d)  Local  unions  having  under  3,000  members  may 
amalgamate  for  the  purpose  of  sending  their  delegates. 

16.  The  following  have  a  voice,  but  no  vote: 

(a)  Representatives  of  the  central  bodies  of  Socialist 
parties;  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Executive  Commit- 
tee of  the  Council  (Soviet)  of  Workers'  and  Peasants' 
Delegates;  individuals  and  institutions  at  the  invita- 
tion of  the  All-Russian  Central  Council  or  the  Congress 
itself. 

(6)     All  members  of  the  All-Russian  Central  Soviet. 

17.  The  rules  of  procedure  for  the  congress  (con- 
vention) are  worked  out  by  the  All-Russian  Central 
Council  and  are  subject  to  approval  by  the  congress. 


APPENDIX  239 

18.  The  order  of  business  (program)  to  be  transacted 
at  the  convention  is  to  be  made  public  at  least  one 
month  before  the  congress  is  convened.  Individual  or- 
ganizations have  the  right  to  introduce  new  points  into 
the  order  of  business  not  later  than  two  weeks  prior  to 
the  meeting  of  the  congress,  of  which  changes  the  AU- 
Russian  Central  Council  immediately  notifies,  through 
the  press,  all  the  trades  unions. 


ORDER      OF      ADMISSION      OF      ALL-RUSSIAN 
TRADES   UNIONS    INTO   THE   ALL-RUS- 
SIAN  CENTRAL   TRADES   UNIONS 
COUNCIL 

19.  An  All-Russian  Trades  Union,  desiring  to  enter 
the  All-Trade  Association  must  submit  to  the  presidium 
of  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  Council  the 
following  documents: 

(a)     the  by-laws, 

(6)  information  on  the  number  of  dues-paying  mem- 
bers, 

(c)  information  on  the  existing  branches  and  number 
of  dues-paying  members  of  each  of  them, 

(d)  minutes  of  any  convention  or  conference  at  which 
the  central  committee  of  the  organization  has 
been  elected, 

(e)  financial  report, 

(/)  sample  copies  of  such  publications  as  the  All-Rus- 
sian Trades  Union  has  published,  and  all  other 
material  shedding  light  on  the  character  of  the 
union's  works. 

20.  An  All-Russian  Trades  Union  may  be  registered 
with,  and  admitted  into,  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades 
Union  Council  on  the  following  conditions: 


240     '^BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

(a)  the  by-laws  and  the  structure  of  the  union  are  to 
be  brought  into  accord  with  the  general  principles  of 
organization  as  adopted  by  the  convention  and  carried 
out  by  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  Council} 

(6)  the  character  and  activity  of  the  union  must  not 
contradict  the  resolutions  of  the  All-Russian  Trades 
Union  Convention  or  the  general  tendencies  of  the  Rus- 
sian trades  union  movement ; 

(c)     the  payment  of  a  corresponding  initiation  fee; 

21.  An  all-Russian  union  may  be  expelled  at  a 
plenary  session  from  the  All-Russian  Central  Trades 
Union  Council  on  the  following  grounds: 

{a)  failure  to  obey  the  general  rules  of  discipline  ob- 
ligatory to  all  trades  union  organizations; 

(6)  failure  to  pay  membership  dues  within  three 
months,  without   any  reasonable   cause. 

22.  The  All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  Council, 
in  cases  where  the  central  committee  of  the  All-Russian 
Trades  Union  violates  the  decisions  of  the  convention, 
conference,  or  All-Russian  Central  Trades  Union  Coun- 
cil, may  dissolve  the  same,  and  must  immediately  call 
an  All-Russian  convention  or  conference  of  the  given 
trades  union  for  the  purpose  of  electing  a  new  directing 
body. 

November  7,  1919. 


APPENDIX  241 

THE  FINANCIAL  POLICY  AND  THE  RESULTS 

OF  THE  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE  PEOPLE'S 

COMMISSARIAT  OF  FINANCE 

(1917-1919) 

I 


When  the  Soviet  Government  was  first  organized,  a 
number  of  purely  financial  questions  arose  which  neces- 
sitated the  utilization  of  the  services  of  the  old  finan- 
cial-administrative apparatus  in  the  form  in  which  it 
existed  prior  to  the  October  Revolution.  It  is  quite 
natural  that  the  first  period  of  work  in  the  domain  of 
finance,  that  is,  between  the  October  Revolution  and 
the  Brest-Litovj;k  Peace,  had  of  necessity  to  be  marked 
by  efforts  to  conquer  the  financial  apparatus,  its  central 
as  well  as  its  local  bodies,  to  make  a  study  of  its  own 
functions  and,  somehow  or  other,  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
requirements  of  the  time. 

While  in  the  domain  of  the  Soviet  Government's  eco- 
nomic and  general  policy,  this  period  has  been  marked 
by  two  most  far-reaching  and  important  changes  which, 
strictly  speaking,  had  been  prepared  prior  to  the  Octo- 
ber Revolution — the  nationalization  of  banks  and  the 
annulment  of  the  government  debt ;  the  financial  policy, 
in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  word,  did  not  disclose  any 
new  departures,  not  even  the  beginnings  of  original  con- 
structive work. 

Gradually  taking  over  the  semi-ruined  pre-revolution- 
ary  financial  apparatus,  however,  the  Soviet  Govern- 
ment was  compelled  to  adopt  measures  for  the  systema- 
tization  of  the  country's  finances  in  their  entirety. 

This  second  period  in  the  work  of  the  People's  Com- 
missariat for  Finances  (approximately  up  to  August, 
1918)  also  fails  to  show  any  features  of  sharply  markedl 


242     "BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

revolutionary  change.  From  the  very  beginning  the 
authorities  have  been  confronted  with  a  chaotic  condi- 
tion of  the  country's  financial  affairs.  All  this,  in  con- 
nection with  the  large  deficit  which  became  apparent 
in  the  state  budget,  compelled  the  Commissariat  of  Fi- 
nance to  concentrate  its  immediate  attention  on  straight- 
ening the  general  run  of  things  and,  thus,  prepare  the 
ground  for  further  reforms. 

In  order  to  accomplish  the  systematizing  of  the  finan- 
cial structure,  the  Government  had  to  lean  for  support 
on  the  already  existing  unreformed  institutions,  i.  e., 
the  central  department  of  finance,  the  local  administra- 
tive-financial organs — the  fiscal  boards  tax  inspection, 
treasuries,  excise  boards — and,  more  particularly,  the 
fiinancial  organs  of  the  former  local  institutions  for  self- 
government    (Zemstvos,    and   municipalities). 

Such  a  plan  of  work  seemed  most  feasible,  since  the 
apparatus  appeared  suitable  for  fulfilling  slightly  modi- 
fied functions;  but  the  local  government  was  not  yet 
sufficiently  crystallized  or  firmly  established,  neither 
was  any  stable  connection  established  between  that  local 
government  and  the  central  bodies. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  old  institutions,  which 
by  force  of  habit  continued  to  work  exclusively  at  the 
dictate  of  and  in  accordance  with  instructions  from  the 
central  bodies,  seemed  to  be  the  most  convenient  and 
efficient  means  of  carrying  out  measures  which  the  cen- 
tral authorities  had  planned  to  straighten  out  the  gen- 
eral disorder  prevailing  in  financial   affairs. 

However,  this  idea  soon  had  to  be  discarded,  the  lo- 
cal Soviets  insofar  as  they  organized  themselves  and 
put  their  executive  organs  into  definite  shape,  could 
not  and  did  not  have  the  right  to  neglect  the  work  of 
the  old  financial  organs  functioning  in  the  various  local- 
ities, since  the  Soviets  represented  the  local  organs  of 
the  central  government  as  a  whole,  and  since  it  was 


APPENDIX  243 

upon  them  that  the  responsibility  for  all  the  work 
done  in  the  localities,  rested. 

Under  such  conditions  friction  was  inevitable.  In 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  the  old  bureaucratic 
order,  the  local  financial  institutions  neither  knew  nor 
had  any  idea  of  subordination  other  than  the  slavish 
subordination  to  the  central  authorities  which  excluded 
all  initiative  on  their  part. 

Under  the  new  conditions,  these  local  financial  insti- 
tutions were  to  constitute  only  a  small  component  part 
of  the  local  Soviets.  Acute  misunderstanding  of  the 
local  authorities  among  themselves  and  between  the 
local  and  central  authorities  on  the  subject  of  interrela- 
tions among  all  of  these  institutions,  have  demonstrated 
the  imperative  necessity  for  a  reorganization.  With 
this  work  of  reforming  the  local  financial  organs  (Sep- 
tember, 1918)  a  new  period  opened:  the  third  period 
in  the  activity  of  the  commissariat,  which  coincides  with 
the  gradual  strengthening  of  the  general  course  of  our 
economic  policy.  The  economic  policy  definitely  and 
decisively  occupies  the  first  place  which  duly  belongs 
to  it,  while  the  financial  policy,  insofar  as  it  is  closely 
bound  up  with  the  economic  policy,  is  being  regulated 
and  directed  in  accordance  with  the  general  require- 
ments of  the  latter. 


U 


The  financial  policy  of  Soviet  Russia  was,  for  the  first 
time,  definitely  outlined  by  the  eighth  (March,  1919) 
Convention  of  the  Russian  Communist  Party. 

The  eighth  party  convention  clearly  and  concretely 
stated  our  financial  problems  for  the  transitionary  per- 
iod, and  now  our  task  consists  in  seeing  to  it  that  the 
work  of  the  financial  organs  of  the  Republic  should  be  in 
accord  with  the  principles  accepted  by  the  party. 

These  principles,  briefly,  are  as  follows:   (1)   Soviet 


244     ''BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

Government  State  monopoly  of  the  banking  institutions ; 
(2)  radical  reconstruction  and  simplifications  of  the 
banking  operations,  by  means  of  transforming  the  bank- 
ing apparatus  into  one  of  uniform  accounting  and  gen- 
eral bookkeeping  for  the  Soviet  Republic;  (3)  the  en- 
actment of  measures  widening  the  sphere  of  accounting 
without  the  medium  of  money,  with  the  final  object 
of  total  elimination  of  money;  (4)  and,  in  view  of  the 
transformation  of  the  government  power  into  an  organi- 
zation fulfilling  the  functions  of  economic  management 
for  the  entire  country, — the  transformation  of  the  pre- 
revolutionary  state  budget  into  the  budget  of  the  eco- 
nomic life  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 

In  regard  to  the  necessity  for  covering  the  expenses 
of  the  functioning  state  apparatus  during  the  period 
of  transition,  the  program  adopted  outlines  the  follow- 
ing plan:  "The  Russian  Communist  Party  will  advo- 
cate the  transition  from  the  system  of  levying  contribu- 
tions from  the  capitalists,  to  a  proportional  income  and 
property  tax :  and,  insofar  as  this  tax  outlives  itself,  due 
to  the  widely  applied  expropriation  of  the  propertied 
classes,  the  government  expenditures  must  be  covered 
by  the  immediate  conversion  of  part  of  the  income  de- 
rived from  the  various  state  monopolies  into  govern- 
ment revenue." 

In  short,  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  no  purely 
financial  policy,  in  its  pre-revolutionary  sense  of  inde- 
pendence and  priority,  can  or  ought  to  exist  in  Soviet 
Russia.  The  financial  policy  plays  a  subsidiary  part, 
for  it  depends  directly  upon  the  economic  policy  and 
upon  the  changes  which  occur  in  the  various  phases 
of  Russia's  political   and   economic   order. 

During  the  transitional  period  from  capitalism  to 
Socialism  the  government  concentrates  all  of  its  atten- 
tion on  the  organization  of  industry  and  on  the  activi- 
ties of  the  organs  for  exchange  and  distribution  of  com- 
modities. 


APPENDIX  245 

The  financial  apparatus  is  an  apparatus  subsidiary  to 
the  organs  of  production  and  distribution  of  merchan- 
dise. During  the  whole  of  this  transitional  period  the 
financial  administration  is  confronted  with  the  follow- 
ing task:  (1)  supplying  the  productive  and  distributive 
organs  with  money,  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  not  even 
abolished  by  economic  evolution,  and  (2)  the  formation 
of  an  accounting  system,  with  the  aid  of  which  the 
government  materialize  the  exchange  and  distribution 
of  products.  Finally,  since  all  the  practical  work  in 
the  domain  of  national  and  financial  economy  cannot  and 
should  not  proceed  otherwise  than  in  accordance  with 
a  strictly  defined  plan,  it  is  the  function  of  the  financial 
administration  to  create  and  compile  the  state  budget 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  might  approximate  as  closely 
as  possible  the  budget  of  the  entire  national  economic 
life. 

In  addition  to  this,  one  of  the  largest  problems  of 
the  Commissariat  of  Finance  was  the  radical  reform 
of  the  entire  administration  of  the  Department  of  Fi- 
nance, from  top  to  bottom,  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
fundamental  need  of  the  moment  would  be  realized  most 
fully — the  realization  of  the  dictatorship  of  the  prole- 
tariat and  the  poorest  peasantry  in  the  financial  sphere. 

Ill 

The  work  of  the  financial  institutions  for  the  solution 
of  the  first  problem  of  our  financial  policy,  i.  e.,  the 
monopolization  of  the  entire  banking  business  in  the 
hands  of  the  Soviet  Government,  may  be  considered  as 
having  been  completed  during  the  past  year. 

The  private  commercial  banks  were  nationalized  on 
December  14,  1917,  but  even  after  this  act  there  still 
remained  a  number  of  private  credit  institutions.  Among 
these  foremost  was  the  "Moscow  People's  Bank"  (Mos- 
cow Narodny  Bank)  a  so-called  cooperative  institution. 
There   were   also  societies  for  mutual  credit,   foreign 


246     '^BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

banks  (Lion  Credit  Warsaw  Bank,  Caucasian  Bank, 
etc.)  ;  £ind  private  land  banks,  city  and  government 
(provisional)   credit  associations. 

Finally,  together  with  the  Moscow  People's  Bank 
there  existed  government  institutions — savings  banks, 
and  treasuries.  A  number  of  measures  were  required  to 
do  away  with  that  lack  of  uniformity  involved  and  to 
prepare  the  ground  for  the  formation  cf  a  uniform 
accounting  system. 

A  number  of  decrees  of  the  Soviet  of  People's  Com- 
missaries and  regulations  issued  by  the  People's  Com- 
missariat of  Finance,  have  completed  all  this  work  from 
September  1918  to  May  1919. 

By  a  decree  of  October  10th,  1918,  the  Societies  for 
Mutual  Credit  were  liquidated ;  three  decrees  of  Decem- 
ber 2nd,  1918,  liquidated  the  foreign  banks,  regulated 
the  nationalization  of  the  Moscow  People's  (Coopera- 
tive) Bank  and  the  liquidation  of  the  municipal  banks; 
and,  finally,  on  May  17th,  1919,  the  city  and  state  Mu- 
tual Credit  Associations  were  liquidated.  As  regards 
the  question  of  consolidating  the  treasuries  with  the  offi- 
ces of  the  People's  Bank,  this  has  been  provided  in  a 
decree  issued  on  October  31st,  1918;  the  amalgamation 
of  the  savings  banks  with  the  People's  Bank  has  been 
affected  on  April  10th,  1918. 

Thus,  with  the  issuance  of  all  the  above-mentioned 
decrees,  all  the  private  credit  associations  have  been 
eliminated  and  all  existing  Government  Credit  Institu- 
tions have  been  consolidated  into  one  People's  Bank  of 
the  Russian  Republic.  The  last  step  in  the  process  of 
reform  was  the  decree  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Finance  which  consolidated  the  State  Treasury  Depart- 
ment with  the  central  administration  of  the  People's 
Bank.  This  made  possible,  by  uniting  the  administra- 
tion of  these  organs,  the  enforcement  of  the  decree  con- 
cerning the  amalgamation  of  the  treasuries  with  the  Peo- 
ple's Bank.    The  decree  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 


APPENDIX  247 

Finance  of  October  29th,  1918,  issued  pursuant  to  Sec- 
tion 902  of  rules  on  state  and  county  financial  organs, 
practically  ends  the  entire  reform  of  uniting  the  treas- 
uries with  the  institutions  of  the  Bank. 

This  reform  constitutes  the  greatest  revolutionary 
departure,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  instructions  con- 
tained in  the  party  program.  Prior  to  the  completion 
of  this  reform,  the  old  pre-revolutionary  principle  con- 
tinued to  prevail — that  of  opposition  of  the  State  Treas- 
ury to  the  State  Bank,  which  was  independent  finan- 
cially, having  its  own  means,  operating  at  the  expense 
of  its  capital  stock,  and  acting  as  a  depository  for  the 
funds  of  the  State  Treasury  and  as  its  creditor.  Inso- 
far as  the  new  scheme  of  our  financial  life  has  been  real- 
ized, this  dualism,  has  finally  disappeared  in  the  process 
of  realization  of  the  reform.  The  Bank  has  now  ac- 
tually become  the  only  budget-auditing  savings  account 
machinery  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federal  Soviet  Re- 
public. At  the  present  moment  it  is  serving  all  the  de- 
partments of  the,  state  administration,  in  the  sense  that 
it  meets  all  the  government  expenditures  and  receives 
all  the  state  revenue.  It  tak^s  care  of  all  accounting 
between  the  governmental  institutions,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  private  establishments  and  individuals  on  the 
other.  Through  the  hands  of  the  People's  Bank  pass 
all  the  budgets  of  all  institutions  and  enterprises,  even 
the  state  budget  itself;  in  it  is  concentrated  the  central 
bookkeeping  which  is  to  unify  all  the  operations  and  to 
give  a  general  picture  of  the  national  economic  balance. 

Thus,  we  may  consider  that  the  fundamental  work, 
i.  e.,  **the  monopolization  of  the  entire  banking  business 
in  the  hands  of  the  Soviet  Government,  the  radical  al- 
teration and  the  simplification  of  banking  operations 
by  means  of  converting  the  banking  apparatus  into  an 
apparatus  for  uniform  accounting  and  general  book- 
keeping of  the  Soviet  Republic"— has  been  accomplished 
by  the  Commissariat  of  Finance. 


248     **BAEBAEOUS  SOVIET  EUSSIA" 

IV 

As  regards  the  carrying  into  practice  of  a  number  of 
measures  intended  to  widen  the  sphere  of  accounting 
without  the  aid  of  money,  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
has,  during  the  period  above  referred  to,  undertaken 
some  steps  insofar  as  this  was  possible  under  the  cir- 
cumstances. 

As  long  as  the  state  did'  not  overcome  the  shortage 
of  manufactured  articles,  caused  by  the  general  dis- 
location of  industrial  life,  and  as  long  as  it  could  ar- 
range for  a  moneyless  direct  exchange  of  commodities 
with  the  villages,  nothing  else  remains  for  it  than  to 
take,  insofar  as  possible,  all  possible  steps  to  reduce  the 
instances  where  money  is  used  as  a  medium  of  exchange. 
Through  an  increase  of  moneyless  operations  between 
the  departments,  and  between  the  government  and  in- 
dividuals, economically  dependent  upon  it,  the  ground 
is  prepared  for  the  abolition  of  money. 

The  first  step  in  this  direction  was  the  decree  of  the 
Soviet  of  People's  Commissaries  of  January  23rd,  1919, 
on  accounting  operations,  containing  regulations  on  the 
settling  of  merchandise  accounts  (products,  raw  ma- 
terial, manufactured  articles,  etc.)  among  Soviet  institu- 
tions, and  also  among  such  industrial  and  commercial 
establishments  as  have  been  nationalized,  taken  over  by 
the  municipalities,  or  are  under  the  control  of  the  Su- 
preme Council  of  National  Economy,  the  People's  Com- 
missariat for  Food  Supply,  and  Provincial  Councils  of 
National  Economy  and  their  sub-divisions. 

In  accordance  with  this  decree,  the  above-mentioned 
accounts  are  to  be  settled  without  the  medium  of  cur- 
rency, by  means  of  a  draft  upon  the  state  treasury  for 
the  amount  chargeable  to  the  consuming  institution,  and 
to  be  credited  to  the  producing  institution,  or  enter- 
prise. In  the  strict  sense,  the  decree  establishes  a  prin- 
ciple, in  accordance  with  which  any  Soviet  institution 


APPENDIX  249 

or  governmental  enterprise  requiring  merchandise,  must 
not  resort  to  the  aid  of  private  dealers,  but  is  in  duty 
bound  to  apply  to  the  corresponding  Soviet  institutions, 
accounting,  producing  or  distributing  those  articles. 
Thus,  it  was  proposed,  by  means  of  the  above-mentioned 
decree,  to  reduce  an  enormous  part  of  the  state  budget 
to  the  mere  calculation  of  interdepartmental  accounts, 
income  on  one  side  and  expenditures  on  the  other.  In 
other  words,  it  becomes  possible  to  transact  an  enor- 
mous part  of  the  operations  without  the  use  of  money 
as  a  medium  of  exchange. 

As  regards  the  policy  of  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
in  the  domain  of  the  circulation  of  money,  one  of  the 
most  important  measures  in  this  respect  was  the  de- 
cree of  the  Soviet  of  People's  Commissaries  of  May  15th, 
1919,  on  the  issue  of  new  paper  money  of  the  1918  type. 

This  decree  states  the  following  motive  for  the  issue 
of  new  money:  "this  money  is  being  issued  with  the 
object  of  gradually  replacing  the  paper  money  now  in 
circulation  of  the  present  model,  the  form  of  which  in 
no  way  corresponds  to  the  foundations  of  Russia's  new 
political  order,  and  also  for  the  purpose  of  driving  out 
of  circulation  various  substitutes  for  money  which  have 
been  issued  due  to  the  shortage  of  paper  money." 

The  simultaneous  issue  of  money  of  the  old  and  new 
type  made  it  impossible  for  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
to  immediately  commence  the  exchange  of  money,  but 
this  in  no  way  did  or  does  prevent  it  from  preparing 
the  ground  for  such  exchange,  in  connection  with  the 
annulment  of  the  major  part  of  the  old  money  in  a 
somewhat  different  manner.  Creating  a  considerable 
supply  of  money  of  the  new  model  (1918)  and  in- 
creasing the  productivity  of  the  currency  printing  office, 
the  Commissariat  is  to  gradually  pass  over  to,  in  fact 
has  already  begun,  the  issue  of  money  exclusively  of 
the  new  type.  A  little  while  after  the  old  paper  money 
has  ceased  to  be  printed,  the  laboring  population,  both 


250     ''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 

rural  and  urban,  as  well  as  the  Red  Guards  all  of  whom 
are  not  in  position  to  accumulate  large  sums,  will  soon 
have  none  of  the  old  money.  Then  will  be  the  time  to 
annul  the  money  of  the  old  type,  since  this  annulment 
will  not  carry  with  it  any  serious  encroachment  on  the 
interests  of  the  large  laboring  masses. 

Thus  the  issue  of  new  money  is  one  of  the  most  needed 
first  steps  on  the  road  to  the  preparation  of  the  funda- 
mental problem,  that  is  the  annihilation  of  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  money  of  the  old  type,  reducing  in  this 
way  the  general  volume  of  the  mass  of  paper  money  in 
circulation. 

We  thus  see  that  here,  too,  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
followed  a  definite  policy.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Socialist  policy  all  measures 
in  the  domain  of  money  circulation  are  mere  palliative 
measures.  The  Commissariat  of  Finance  entertains  no 
doubts  as  to  the  fact  that  a  radical  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion is  possible  only  by  eliminating  money  as  a  medium 
of  exchange. 

The  most  immediate  problem  before  the  Commissariat 
of  Finance  is  undoubtedly  the  accomplishment  of  the 
process  which  has  already  begun,  namely,  the  selection 
of  the  most  convenient  moment  for  the  annulment  of  the 
old  money.  As  regards  the  part  which  currency  gen- 
erally (at  this  moment  of  transition)  plays,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  now  it  is  the  only  and  therefore  inevit- 
able system  of  financing  the  entire  governmental 
machinery  and  that  the  choice  of  other  ways  in  this 
direction  entirely  depends  upon  purely  economic  con- 
ditions, i.  e.,  mainly  upon  the  process  of  organization  and 
restoration  of  the  national  economy  as  a  whole. 


The  explanatory  note,  attached  to  the  budget  for  July 
to   December,    1918,   thus   depicts  our   future   budget; 


APPENDIX  251 

""When  the  Socialist  reconstruction  of  Russia  has  been 
completed,  when  all  the  factories,  mills  and  other  estab- 
lishments have  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  government, 
and  the  products  of  these  will  go  to  the  government 
freely  and  directly,  when  the  agricultural  and  farming 
products  will  also  freely  flow  into  the  government  stores 
either  in  exchange  for  manufactured  articles  or  as  duty 
in  kind  .  .  .  then  the  state  budget  will  reflect  not  the 
condition  of  the  monetary  transactions  of  the  State 
Treasury  .  .  .  but  the  condition  of  the  operations  in- 
volving material  values,  belonging  to  the  State,  and  the 
operations  will  be  transacted  without  the  aid  of  money, 
at  any  rate  without  money  in  its  present  form." 

It  is  clear  that  at  present  the  conditions  are  not  yet 
fully  prepared  for  the  transition  to  the  above-stated  new 
form  of  state  budget.  But,  in  spite  of  this,  the  Com- 
missariat of  Finance  has  taken  a  big  step  forward  in  the 
direction  of  reforming  our  budget. 

The  budget  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federal  Soviet 
Republic,  adopted  by  the  AU-Russian  Central  Executive 
Committee  on  May  20,  1919,  represents  the  experiment 
in  effecting  a  survey  not  so  much  of  the  financial  activity 
of  the  state,  as  of  its  economic  activity,  even  though 
it  is  as  yet  in  the  form  of  money. 

In  the  work  of  reforming  the  budget,  the  Commis- 
sariat of  Finance  has  come  across  two  obstacles  which 
are  a  heritage  of  the  pre-revolutionary  time :  the  division 
of  revenue  and  expenditures  into  general  state  and  local, 
and  the  hesitation  on  the  part  of  some  to  include  in  the 
budget  all  the  productive  and  distributive  operations  of 
the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy  and  of  the 
Commissariat  for  Food  Supply.  Both,  the  first  and 
second  obstacles  have  been  somewhat  surmounted,  and 
the  above-mentioned  (third)  revolutionary  budget  is  al- 
ready different  from  the  two  preceding  budgets  in  many 
peculiarities  which  are  very  typical.  These  consist  in 
a  complete  account  of  all  production  and  distribution 


252     ^'BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

which  the  state  has  taken  upon  itself.  This  experiment 
is  by  no  means  complete,  but  the  achievement  should 
nevertheless  be  judged  as  considerable.  The  concrete 
conditions  for  making  out  the  budget,  as  is  stated  in  the 
explanatory  note,  have  already  made  it  possible  to  enter 
upon  the  road  of  accounting  for  the  entire  production 
and  distribution  of  the  nation,  and  that  thereby  the 
foundation  has  been  laid  down  for  the  development  of 
the  budget  in  the  only  direction  which  is  proper  under 
the  present  conditions. 

The  budget  of  the  first  half  of  1919  has  foUowed  the 
same  fundamental  principles  for  the  construction  of  the 
state  budget  by  including  the  expenditures  of  the  entire 
state  production  and  distribution  as  well  as  the  sum  total 
of  the  revenue — in  the  form  of  income  from  the  produc- 
tive and  distributive  operations  of  the  state.  In  other 
words,  this  budget  for  the  first  time  takes  into  account 
all  the  transactions  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National 
Economy  and  of  the  Commissariat  for  Food  Supply. 

The  further  development  of  the  budget  will  be  directed 
toward  the  working  out  of  the  details  of  this  general 
plan,  and,  in  particular,  toward  differentiating  revenue 
and  expenditures:  (1)  direct,  actual  money  received  or 
paid,  and  (2)  transactions  involved  in  the  accounting 
of  material  and  labor,  but  not  involving  any  actual 
receipts  of  money,  or  requiring  any  actual  disbursements 
in  money. 

VI 

In  the  field  of  taxation  one  must  bear  in  mind  first 
that  the  entire  question  of  taxation  has  been  radically 
changed  with  the  beginning  of  Communist  reconstruc- 
tion. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  combined  measures  of  econ- 
omic and  financial  legislation  of  the  Republic,  the  bases 
for  the  levying  of  land,  real  estate,  industrial  taxes, 
taxes  on  coupons,  on  bank  notes,  on  stock,  stock  ex- 


APPENDIX  253 

change,  etc.,  completely  disappeared,  since  the  objects 
of  taxation  themselves  have  become  government  prop- 
erty. The  old  statute  regulating  the  income  tax  (1916), 
which  has  not  as  yet  been  abolished,  was  in  no  way  suit- 
able to  the  changed  economic  conditions.  All  this  com- 
pelled the  Commissariat  of  Finance  to  seek  new 
departures  in  the  field  of  taxation. 

However,  it  was  impossible  to  give  up  the  idea  of 
direct  taxation  prior  to  the  complete  reformation  of 
the  tax  system  as  a  whole.  Our  work  of  Communist  re^ 
construction  has  not  been  completed ;  it  would  be  absurd 
to  exempt  from  taxation  the  former  capitalists  as  well 
as  the  newly  forming  group  of  people  who  strive  for 
individual  accumulation.  This  is  why  the  system  of 
direct  taxation,  which  has  until  recently  been  in  oper- 
ation, was  composed  of  fragments  of  the  old  tax  on 
property  and  of  the  partly  reformed  income  tax  law. 
However,  beginning  with  November,  1918,  to  this  old 
system  there  were  added  two  taxes  of  a  purely  revolu- 
tionary character  which  stand  out  apart  within  the 
partly  outgrown  system  ''taxes  in  kind"  (decree  of 
October  30,  1918)  and  "extraordinary  taxes"  (Novem- 
ber 2,  1918). 

Both  decrees  have  been  described  as  follows  by  Com- 
rade Krestinsky,  Commissary  of  Finance,  at  the  May 
session  of  the  financial  sub-divisions : 

''These  are  decrees  of  a  different  order,  the  only  thing 
they  have  in  common  is  that  they  both  bear  a  class 
character  and  that  each  provides  for  the  tax  to  increase 
in  direction  proportion  with  the  amount  of  property 
which  the  tax-payer  possesses,  that  the  poor  are  com- 
pletely free  from  both  taxes,  and  the  lower  middle  class 
pays  them  in  a  smaller  proportion." 

The  extraordinary  tax  aims  at  the  savings  which  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  urban  and  larger  rural  bour- 
geoisie from  former  times.  Insofar  as  it  is  directed  at 
non-labor  savings  it  cannot  be  levied  more  than  once. 


254     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

As  regards  the  taxes  in  kind,  borrowing  Comrade  Kres- 
tinsky's  expression,  "it  will  remain  in  force  during  the 
period  of  transition  to  the  Communist  order,  until  the 
village  will  from  practical  experience  realize  the  advan- 
tage of  rural  economy  on  a  large  scale  compared  with 
the  small  farming  estate,  and  will  of  its  own  accord, 
without  compulsion,  en  masse  adopt  the  Communist 
method  of  land  cultivation." 

Thus,  the  tax  in  kind  is  a  link  binding  politically  the 
Communist  socialized  urban  economy  and  the  indepen- 
dent individual  petty  agricultural  producers. 

Such  are  the  two  "direct"  revolutionary  taxes  of  the 
latest  period.  In  regard  to  the  old  system  of  pre-revo- 
lutionary  taxes,  the  work  of  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
during  all  of  the  latest  period  followed  the  path  of 
gradual  change  and  abolition  of  the  already  outgrown 
types  of  direct  taxation  and  partial  modification  and 
adaptation  to  the  new  conditions  of  the  moment,  of  the  old 
taxes  still  suitable  for  practical  purposes. 

At  the  present  moment  the  Commissariat  of  Finance 
has  entered,  in  the  domain  of  direct  taxation  reforms, 
upon  the  road  toward  a  complete  revolution  in  the  old 
system.  The  central  tax  board  is  now,  for  the  transi- 
tional period,  working  on  a  project  of  income  and 
property  taxation,  the  introduction  of  which  will  liqui- 
date all  the  existing  direct  taxes,  without  exception.  The 
single  tax  which  is  being  proposed,  is  so  constructed  that 
it  covers  the  very  property  of  the  citizen,  i.  e.,  it  consti- 
tutes a  demand  that  the  citizen  yield  that  part  of  his 
savings  which  is  above  a  certain  standard,  etc. 

In  closing  the  review  of  the  activity  of  the  Commis- 
sariat of  Finance  during  the  two  years  of  its  existence, 
one  must  note  briefly  the  great  purely  organizational 
work,  conducted  by  it  on  a  natural  as  well  as  a  local  scale. 

The  reform  has  been  definitely  directed  towards  sim- 
plifying the  apparatus  and  reducing  its  personnel  as  far 
as  possible. 


APPENDIX  255 

Finally,  with  this  reform,  the  Commissariat  of 
Finance  has  been  organized  in  the  following  manner: 
the  central  office,  the  central  budget-accounting  board 
(former  People's  Bank  and  Department  of  State 
Treasury)  and,  finally,  the  central  tax  board  (former 
Department  of  Assessed  Taxes  and  of  Unassessed  Taxes). 
Upon  the  same  pattern  are  also  being  modeled  the  local 
financial  bodies. 

DOCUMENT  IV— A,  B,  C 

Prom  Economic  Life,  (Nov.  7,  1919)  The  official  organ 

of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy 

Finance,  food,  trade,  and  industry 

A OUR    METAL   INDUSTRY 

The  two  years  that  have  passed  since  the  November 
Revolution  have  been  marked  by  civil  war,  which  still 
continues.  Russia's  isolation  from  the  outside  world, 
the  loss  and,  later  on,  the  recapture  of  entire  provinces 
of  decisive  importance  to  her  industries,  the  feverish, 
and  therefore  unsystematic,  transfer  of  the  industries 
to  a  peace  basis,  and  then,  during  the  last  year  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  industries,  the  unusual  conditions  of 
transportation,  the  fuel  and  the  food  questions,  and  as 
a  result  of  these,  the  question  of  labor  power  growing 
more  acute — ^this  is  the  sad  picture  of  conditions  under 
which  the  Russian  proletariat  has  organized  and  main- 
tained the  nation's  economic  life. 

And  though  these  familiar  conditions  of  actual  life 
have  affected  all  branches  of  industry,  the  greatest  suf- 
ferer in  this  respect  has  been  the  metal  industry,  which 
forms  the  basis  for  our  defence  and  the  foundation  for 
all  our  industrial  life. 

"We  might  add  here  that  the  metal  industry,  and  in 
particular  the  metal  working  industry  as  its  most  com- 
plicated and  many-sided  phase,  both  in  assortment  of 


256     "BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

products  and  in  the  nature  of  production,  was  by  no 
means  strong  in  Russia  even  under  the  rule  of  the  bour- 
geoisie. As  compared  with  the  more  developed  capitalist 
countries,  the  metal  industry  in  Russia  has  been  at  a 
disadvantage  because  of  the  very  geographical  situation 
of  its  centers,  remote  from  the  sources  of  raw  material 
and  fuel,  artificially  built  up  and  having  suffered  all 
the  consequences  of  an  unsound  foundation.  As  a  re- 
sult of  these  conditions,  there  is  lack  of  specialization 
and  poor  development  of  large  scale  production  which 
means  a  lack  of  the  necessary  prerequisites  for  successful 
production. 

These  are  the  external  conditions  under  which  the 
administration  of  our  metal  industry  has  been  compelled 
to  work. 

The  first  and  most  fundamental  problem  has  been 
that  of  systematic  monopolization  of  industry.  Only 
under  this  form  of  industrial  organization — if  freed 
from  all  the  negative  features  of  the  capitalist  trust, — 
is  operation  possible,  even  on  a  reduced  scale,  so  that 
later  on  we  might  lay  the  solid  foundations  for  new  con- 
structive work  in  the  organization  of  the  nation's  econo- 
omic  life  of  Socialist  principles.  The  process  of  monopo- 
lization may  be  considered  as  complete  by  this  time. 
Large  associations  have  been  formed,  such  as  the  trust  of 
united  government  machine  shops  *'Gomza,"  amalga- 
mating the  largest  mills  producing  the  means  of  trans- 
portation and  machine  construction,  and  the  large  metal- 
lurgical mills,  the  trust  of  state  copper  working  factories, 
th€  trust  of  government  automobile  works,  the  trust  of 
government  aviation  work,  the  trust  of  government  wire 
nail,  bolt  and  nut  factories,  the  trust  of  the  Maltzoff 
Metallurgical  mills,  the  association  of  the  Kaluga  metal- 
lurgical mills  (cast  iron,  utensils,  and  hardware),  the 
trust  of  the  Podolsk  mechanical  and  machine  construc- 
tion shops  the  Petrograd  mills  for  heavy  production,  the 
Petrograd  mills  for  medium  machine  construction,  and 


APPENDIX  257 

the  Petrograd  mills  for  heavy  output  (production  on 
large  scale)  are  united  under  individual  district  admin- 
istration boards. 

Not  all  the  enterprises  consolidated  within  the  associa- 
tions have  become  closely  bound  up  among  themselves 
during  this  transitional  period.  In  a  matter  of  such 
gigantic  proportions  mistakes  have  been,  of  course,  in- 
evitable and  they  will  have  to  be  rectified.  However, 
the  results  of  the  experience  of  the  last  two  years  are 
sufficient  ground  for  the  claim  that  the  working  class 
has  solved  the  problem  of  consolidating  industry. 

The  central  administration  of  the  Gomza  mills  thus 
characterizes  the  significance  of  this  consolidation :  * '  The 
consolidation  of  the  mills  working  on  transportation 
equipment,  working  with  the  metallurgical  group  makes 
it  possible  to  utilize  most  efficiently  all  the  resources 
available,  such  as  fuel,  raw  material,  technical  forces, 
and  the  experience  of  the  various  mills  with  a  view  to 
obtaining  the  best  possible  results  under  the  existing 
conditions.  The  amalgamation  of  the  mills  has  already, 
during  the  past  year,  made  it  possible  to  distribute 
among  them  in  the  most  rational  manner,  that  incon- 
siderable quantity  of  metal  products  and  mineral  fuel, 
all  products  included,  which  the  groups  had  in  its  pos- 
session. This  enabled  the  mills  to  adapt  themselves  to 
the  usage  of  local  fuel.  The  concentration,  even  though 
only  partial,  of  some  of  the  branches  of  the  metallurgical 
industry,  also  of  the  blacksraithing  and  iron  foundry 
branches,  was  made  possible  entirely  by  the  amalgama- 
tion. The  specialization  of  the  mills,  according  to  the 
types  of  steam  engines,  Diesel  or  other  machines,  has 
been  decided  along  general  lines,  by  the  Metal  Depart- 
ment of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy,  and 
the  question  is  being  worked  out  in  closest  cooperation 
with  the  Technical  Department  of  the  "Gomza."  The 
amalgamation  of  the  mills  will  make  it  possible  to  carry 
out  gradually  this  specialization  and  utilize  its  results. 


258     "BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

The  central  administration  of  the  united  mills  states, 
in  a  report  of  its  activities,  that  owing  to  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  mills,  the  problems  of  supplying  them  with 
raw  material,  fuel  and  labor  power,  were  solved  in  a 
fairly  satisfactory  way,  thus  placing  production  on  a 
more  or  less  constant  basis.  The  mills  entering  this  com- 
bination, if  left  to  their  own  resources,  would  have  been 
doomed  to  a  complete  shutdown. 

The  trust  of  the  airplane  building  works  has  so  com- 
pletely amalgamated  all  the  mills,  which  entered  the 
combination  that  it  now  would  be  at  a  loss  to  determine 
in  advance  which  of  the  mills  would  perform  any  given 
part  of  its  program  of  production ;  to  such  an  extent  are 
these  mills  bound  up  together  through  constant  inter- 
change of  fuel,  raw  material,  supplies  and  even  labor 
power. 

The  process  of  concentration  of  the  industries  in  the 
Ural  region  is  being  successfully  carried  out  by  the 
Bureau  of  the  Metal  Department,  through  the  organiza- 
tion of  district  and  circuit  officers. 

Outside  of  the  combine  only  those  mills  remained 
where  production  is  merely  organized :  the  Moscow  works 
*' Metal,"  ''Electrosteel,"  "Scythe,"  "Aviation  Out- 
fits," and  the  Satatov  mill— "Star"  (Zwezda).  These 
works  are  temporarily  in  the  immediate  charge  of  the 
Metal  Department. 

The  Gomza  trust  during  the  entire  period  of  its  exist- 
ence, up  to  July  1st,  1919,  has  produced  69  new  locomo- 
tives and  repaired  38  old  ones;  it  has  produced  1,744  new 
and  repaired  1,040  old  coaches;  it  has  completed  670 
small  cars;  261,327  poods  of  axles  and  tires;  7,543  poods 
of  switches;  and  118,659  poods  of  various  locomotive 
and  car  parts.  The  table  given  below  representing  the 
output  for  the  first  six  months  of  1919,  as  compared  with 
the  same  period  for  1916  and  1918,  of  the  Vyxunsk  Min- 
ing District,  gives  an  idea  of  the  work  of  the  Department 
of  Metallurgy  of  our  largest  trust: 


APPENDIX 


259 


Ou^tputinjhousands  of  Poods  ^^ ^       i^v'HlIV:!!! 

January  January  July  to  January 
to  June,  to  June,    Dec,    to  June, 

1916         1918         1918         1919 

Standard  bars.  86,7  91,4  74,2  133,6  154  146,1  179,9 

Roofing   iron  -.^rw^ 

andbUlets 37,3  37,3  100,0 

Sheet  iron  and  ,^  .  _„  _ 
boiler  plates.112,1  59,3  3,5  10,9  9,7  18,4  321,1 
Plough    shares 
and     mould- 
boards   'v  

Pipes  225,4  125,0  56,4  61,1  24,7  78,8  108,2 

Wire    255,2  106,7  4,9  22,6  8,8  21,2  455,1 

Nails    114,9  117,4  79,3  51,4  44,8  43,8  64,9 

Pitchforks  2,8  3,7  1,0  36,6  27,2 

Shovels 6,6  6,0  4,5  2,2  33,7  37,3  50,5 

800,9    508,6    263,8    327,8      40,9%    64,5    124,2 

It  is  apparent  from  the  data  given  in  the  above  table 
that  the  total  output  for  the  first  six  months  of  1919  was 
almost  41  per  cent  of  the  total  output  for  the  corres- 
ponding period  of  1916,  and  64.5  per  cent  of  the  total 
product  for  the  first  half  year  of  1918,  and  124.2  per 
cent  of  the  last  six  months  of  1918.  The  figures  express- 
ing the  ratio  of  the  total  output  of  metal  for  the  same 
periods  are  respectively — 91.4  per  cent,  120.6  per  cent 
and  153.2  per  cent. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  extremely  difficult  con- 
ditions of  production,  the  results  may  be  considered  sat- 
isfactory. 

If  we  turn  to  the  production  of  another  of  our  trusts 
— "Central  Copper  Works"  (Centromed),  we  note  that 
during  the  period  of  October  to  December,  1916,  the 
main  Tula  factory  has  produced  73.4  per  cent  of  its  ca- 
pacity, during  January  to  June  of  1919—89.9  per  cent, 
and  finally  during  July  and  August  of  this  year  (1919) 
— about  87  per  cent.  The  Kolchugin  works  have  pro- 
duced the  various  articles  of  their  manufacture  during 
the  same  periods  in  quantities  which  amounted  to  from 


260     ''BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

16  to  48  per  cent,  30  per  cent  to  77  per  cent  and  20  per 
cent  to  36  per  cent  of  the  quantities  it  was  scheduled 
to  produce,  while  the  samovar  factories  have  produced 
44  per  cent  of  the  scheduled  output. 

The  mills  entering  the  association  of  the  Central  Avia- 
tion Works  have  produced  36  per  cent  to  180  per  cent 
of  the  quantity  they  planned  to  turn  out,  while  during 
July,  August  and  September  of  1918  this  percentage 
ranged  in  the  various  mills  and  branches  of  production 
from  26  per  cent  to  120  per  cent. 

A  comparatively  considerable  increase  of  production 
has  been  noted  on  the  works  combined  in  the  automobile 
trust 

It  would  be  absolutely  impossible,  within  the  limits 
of  a  newspaper  article,  to  amplify  the  illustration  of 
the  above  statements  by  means  of  statistical  data,  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  data  pertaining  to 
the  latest  period  has  not  been  arranged  systematically. 
However,  the  figures  cited  above,  we  trast,  give  some 
idea  of  the  process  and  results  of  the  concentration  of 
industry  and  permit  the  deduction  that  the  productivity 
of  labor  in  our  large  works,  insofar  as  it  did  not  com- 
pletely depend  upon  conditions  which  under  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  are  insuperable, — has  increased  as 
compared  with  that  for  the  preceding  year,  and  in  some 
exceptional  cases,  it  has  even  arisen  to  the  pre-war  level. 

Nevertheless,  our  large  industry  has  been  getting  into 
even  greater  difficulties.  A  number  of  crises  weighing 
on  it  are  breaking  down  its  last  forces.  Of  these  the 
most  acute  and  serious  are  the  fuel  and  food  crises,  the 
latter  demoralizing  labor.  This  enforced  comparative 
idleness  has  been  thoroughly  utilized  during  the  revolu- 
tionary period,  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  for  the 
time  when  the  external  conditions  would  permit  our 
large  industries  to  run  at  full  speed. 

In  addition  to  the  work  of  adapting  our  industry  to 
modern  conditions  of  production  (altering  the  mills  to 


APPENDIX  261 

suit  them  to  the  usage  of  wood  fuel,  by  changing  the 
construction  of  the  furnaces  and  cupolas)  the  Technical 
Council  of  the  Metals  Department  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil of  National  Economy  is  conducting  the  enormous 
work  of  standardizing  the  industry  and  specializing  the 
mills  by  means  of  a  detailed  study  of  the  individual 
branches  of  industry.  It  is  also  engaged  in  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old,  and  in  the  organization  of  new,  indus- 
tries on  the  basis  of  specialized  labor  and  production  on 
a  large  scale.  This  latter  task  has  been  carried  out 
by  a  number  of  commissions  organized  by  the  Metal  De- 
partment of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy. 
The  Technical  Council  of  the  Metals  Department  con- 
ducted its  work  chiefly  on  the  plane  of  standardizing 
production  within  the  metal  industry,  reducing  to  a 
minimum  the  types  of  construction  of  the  same  article. 
Under  capitalist  conditions  of  production  the  law  of 
competition  frequently  led  individual  manufacturers  to 
deliberately  flood  the  market  with  a  multitude  of  vari- 
ous constructions  of  the  same  machines  in  order  to 
compel  the  consumer  purchasing  a  machine  or  imple- 
ment at  a  given  mill,  to  buy  all  the  parts  and  often  have 
his  machine  repaired  in  the  same  shop.  It  is  needless 
to  point  out  to  what  extent  this  increased  the  cost  of 
production  and,  what  is  still  more  important,  the  cost 
of  exploitation.  The  Technical  Council  has  tackled  the 
question  not  from  an  abstractly  scientific  viewpoint,  but 
from  a  practical  standpoint,  working  in  close  coopera- 
tion with  our  metal  works.  Every  master  part,  every 
detail  is  being  worked  out  on  the  basis  of  data  collected 
at  the  mills  by  subcommittees  consisting  of  specialists. 
Then  the  project  is  submitted  to  the  mills  where  the 
necessary  changes  and  coordination  are  suggested.  The 
comments  given  by  the  mills  are  compiled  and  revised, 
before  this  or  the  other  table  or  drawing  is  introduced ; 
the  same  applies  to  the  technical  specifications  and  as- 
sortments. 


262     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

Master  parts  of  three  categories  are  being  worked  out : 

(1)  for  the  production  of  metal  ware  on  a  large  scale, 

(2)  for  general  machine  construction,  (3)  for  the  con- 
struction of  Diesel  engines,  which  is  now  developing 
into  a  general  division  of  thermo-technics. 

In  addition  to  this,  a  project  is  being  completed  for 
a  lathe  designed  for  the  needs  of  home  industries,  and 
for  repair  work.  A  project  is  being  worked  out  for 
a  series  of  lathes  of  all  sizes,  required  for  machine  con- 
struction shops. 

Besides  work  on  the  standardization  of  industry,  ef- 
forts are  also  being  made  to  lay  down  the  technical  con- 
ditions. 

Of  the  above  mentioned  committees,  the  following 
deserve  special  mention: 

(1)  The  committee  on  steam  turbine  construction  is 
distributing  orders  for  the  construction  of  turbines  of 
various  types.  The  Petrograd  metal  works  and  the  Puti- 
loff  wharf  have  already  completed  part  of  their  orders. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  committee  has  investigated  the 
construction  of  steam  turbines  in  Russia. 

(2)  The  committee  on  tractor  construction  has  re- 
distributed and  again  alloted  orders  among  the  Obukhov 
factory,  the  Mamin  mill  and  the  Kolomenksky  mill  for 
75,  16  and  30  horse-power  tractors.  The  drawings  for 
the  latter  type  of  tractor  have  been  worked  out  by  the 
committee.  Out  of  the  number  of  tractors  ordered  at 
the  Obukhov  works,  the  first  three  Russian-made  trac- 
tors are  already  completed.  The  others  will  be  turned 
cut  in  January  and  in  June  of  1920.  It  is  proposed 
to  organize  the  production  of  tractors  on  a  large  scale 
at  the  new  Vyxunsk  mill,  the  building  of  which  is  being 
completed. 

(3)  The  committee  on  the  construction  of  gas  genera- 
ting installations  which  has  determined  the  basic  type 
of  gas  generating  engine  most  suitable  for  the  condi- 
tions of  Russian  machine  construction,  has  standardized 


APPENDIX  263 

the  normal  power  of  the  engines;  it  has  also  outlined 
the  preliminary  measures  for  the  adaptation  of  certain 
mills  to  large  scale  production  of  gas-generating  engines. 

(4)  The  committee  for  the  development  and  improve- 
ment of  steam  boiler  construction  in  Russia,  has  pre- 
pared the  material  and  worked  out  detailed  conditions 
for  a  contest  of  stationary  water-tube  boilers,  the  cheap- 
est as  to  cost  of  production  and  the  most  economical  in 
operation  to  be  adopted  by  the  committee.  The  com- 
mittee also  prepares  the  conditions  for  a  contest  on  the 
production  of  a  mechanical  stoker,  having  investigated 
possible  productivity  and  modern  methods  of  produc- 
tion of  steam  boilers  in  Russia. 

(5)  The  committee  on  the  construction  of  refrigera- 
ting machinery  ascertained  the  requirements  for  1919- 
1920  in  the  line  of  refrigerating  machinery ;  it  is  laying 
down  and  determining  the  types  of  refrigerating  ma- 
chines and  apparatus  that  would  be  most  desirable;  it 
is  working  out  the  construction  of  the  same,  etc.  Fin- 
ally, it  has  drawn  up  plans  for  the  construction  of  re- 
frigerator-barges to  sail  regularly  on  the  Volga  between 
Astrakhan  and  Rybinsk. 

In  addition  to  the  above-mentioned  commissions,  the 
Metal  Department  has  a  number  of  committees  now 
fimctioning,  such  as  the  committee  in  charge  of  supply- 
ing the  country  with  high  grades  of  steel,  having  a  tech- 
nical convention  of  its  own  the  committee  on  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Ural  industries,  the  committee  on  locomo- 
tive construction,  etc. 

As  we  have  mentioned  before,  simultaneously  with 
rendering  support  to  large  industries  and  taking  steps 
for  their  conversion  to  normal  conditions,  particularly 
careful  attention  had  to  be  given  to  the  intermediate, 
small  and  home  industries. 

Intermediate  industry  comprises  almost  all  of  the  ag- 
ricultural machine  construction,  under  the  direction  of 
the  agricultural  machinery  section  of  the  Metal  Depart- 


264     ''BAKBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

ment  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy.  This 
section  operates  in  close  contact  with  the  local  governing 
bodies  in  charge  of  the  people's  industries:  provincial, 
councils  of  national  economy.  According  to  the  data  of 
the  section,  covering  the  period  of  October  1st,  1918  to 
October  1st,  1919,  the  following  simple  as  well  as  com- 
plicated agricultural  machines  and  implements  have 
been  produced : 

147,453  ploughs 
3,717  winnowing  machines 
1,440  straw  cutters 
11,451  harrows 
98,689  scythes 
684,420  sickles 
11,980  harvesting  machines 

For  the  purpose  of  organizing  the  production  of 
scythes  in  the  most  efficient  manner  possible  the  agricul- 
tural machine  section  created  a  special  Scythes  Bureau, 
which  is  investigating  this  line  of  production,  ascertain- 
ing the  possible  amount  of  productivity  if  manufactured 
in  the  machine  shop  manner  or  according  to  the  home 
industry  method,  both  in  the  central  provinces  and  in 
the  Ural  region.  The  bureau  has  laid  down  a  plan  for 
radical  change  in  the  nature  of  production  by  means  of 
splitting  it  into  two  fundamental  processes:  the  metal- 
lurgical— the  rolling  of  steel  of  worked  out  profile;  and 
the  finishing  process  in  the  mills  and  shops.  For  the 
purpose  of  rolling  the  metal  it  has  been  proposed  to 
utilize  the  Vyxunsk  mill,  which  has  been  requested  to 
include  in  its  program  the  rolling  of  steel  for  the  pro- 
duction of  scythes. 

In  the  field  of  home  industry  production  on  a  small 
scale  the  committee  on  metal  products  and  apparatus 
of  the  Metal  Department  is  working  in  close  coopera- 
tion with  other  government  institutions,  having  organ- 
ized agencies  in  Pavlovsk,  Tula,  Murom,  and  Vladimir, 
for  the  purpose  of  financing  artisans  and  distributing 


APPENDIX  265 

raw  material  among  them  on  the  one  condition  that 
they  turn  in  their  product  to  the  government  stores 
for  organized  distribution.  The  results  of  this  work  can 
be  judged  by  the  following  approximate  data  on  the 
cost  of  manufactured  products,  the  stock  on  hand  from 
previous  year  returned  to  the  factories  and  enterprises 
of  the  Murom,  Pavlovsk,  Tula  region,  as  well  as  to  the 
group  of  cast  iron  foundries  of  the  provinces  of  Kaluga 
and  Ryazan. 

The  Murom  district,  manufacturing  cutlery  and  to 
some  extent  also  instruments,  has  turned  out,  during 
the  period  following  the  organization  of  the  government 
agency,  15  million  roubles'  worth  of  goods,  while  the 
total  worth  of  it,  including  remnants  returned,  amounts 
to  25  million  roubles;  the  Pavlovsk  district  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  cutlery,  locks  and  instruments, — 
among  others,  .surgical  instruments — has  produced  since 
October  1st,  1918,  70  million  roubles'  worth  of  mer- 
chandise; including  the  remnants,  this  would  aggregate 
to  100  million  roubles.  The  Tula  district  (hardware, 
locks,  stove  accessories,  samovars,  hunters'  rifles),  has 
produced  since  May  1919,  30  million  roubles'  worth 
of  goods,  which,  including  the  remnants,  amount  to  60 
million  roubles.  The  east-iron  foundries  of  the  Kaluga 
and  Ryazan  districts  (manufacturing  cast-iron  utensils, 
stove  accessories  and  various  other  castings)  have  pro- 
duced since  October  1st,  1918,  50  million  roubles'  worth 
of  merchandise,  including  the  remnants. 

Thus,  the  total  amount  of  goods  produced  amounts 
to  165  million  roubles, — or  to  235  million  roubles,  if 
the  value  of  the  remnants  is  added, — taking  40  as  the 
co-efficient  of  its  value  according  to  peace-time  prices. 

The  central  administration  could  not  take  upon  it- 
self the  direct  organization  of  home  industries  to  the 
full  extent.  Its  best  assistants  in  this  matter  are  the 
local  institutions  of  national  economy — the  provincial 
and  district  metal  committees,  which  have  been  brought 


266     ''BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

in  close  contact  with  the  central  administration  by  the 
conventions  of  the  representatives  of  the  district  and 
provincial  metal  committees.  These  conventions  were 
being  called  at  regular  intervals  for  the  purpose  of  work- 
ing out  and  ratifying  their  programs  concerning  produc- 
tion and  distribution  of  metals,  and  financial  questions. 

We  must  also  mention  the  fact  that  all  the  measures 
in  the  domain  of  the  metal  industry  are  being  carried 
out  with  the  close  and  immediate  cooperation  of  the 
workers'  producing  association — ^the  union  of  metal 
workers. 

Thus,  as  has  been  proven  from  practical  experience, 
the  methods  and  forms  of  organization  of  the  metal  in- 
dustry have  turned  out  to  be  correct.  Their  applica- 
tion is  therefore  to  be  continued  and  widened,  strength- 
ening the  ties  binding  these  organizations  with  the  lo- 
cal administrative  bodies,  such  as  the  provincial  and 
district  metal  committees  and  with  the  central  manage- 
ment of  the  amalgamated  enterprises. 

The  great  obstacle  in  the  path  of  future  development 
in  our  metal  industry  is  the  food  question,  which  car- 
ries with  it  the  dissolution  of  labor  power.  Considering 
the  fact  that  circumstances  have  compelled  our  indus- 
try in  general,  and  particularly  the  metal  industry,  to 
supply  chiefly  the  needs  of  national  defence,  to  which 
it  is  necessary  to  give  right  of  way  over  all  other  in- 
terests, the  authorities  and  the  labor  organizations  must 
do  everything  in  their  power  to  avert  the  food  crisis 
threatening  the  metal  workers,  even  if  this  be  to  the 
detriment  of  the  population. 

It  is  necessary  not  only  to  cease  all  further  mobiliza- 
tion of  laborers  and  responsible  workers,  but  also  to 
select  a  considerable  portion  of  those  already  mobilized 
for  the  purpose  of  transferring  them  from  the  army  into 
industry. 

The  course  of  work  of  the  metal  industry  during  the 
past  two  years  gives  us  reason  to  hope  that  these  meas- 


APPENDIX  267 

ures,  if  introduced  systematically,  might  make  it  pos- 
sible to  cope  with  the  difficult  external  conditions  and 
furnish  a  mighty  stimulus  for  preparing  the  metal  in- 
dustry for  the  needs  of  peaceful  construction. 

M.  VINDELBOT. 


THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   RURAL  INDUS- 
TRIES 

B — FROM  "economic  LIFE,"  NoV.  7,  1919. 

The  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy  has  put 
into  practice  the  idea  of  nationalization  of  all  our  in- 
dustries: at  present  there  is  not  one  mill  or  factory 
of  any  considerable  size  that  is  not  the  property  of  the 
people. 

During  .the  second  year  of  its  existence,  the  Supreme 
Council  of  National  Economy  has  made  some  headway 
in  the  work  of  nationalization  of  land.  As  a  particular 
instance  we  might  cite  the  fact  that  it  was  upon  the 
initiative  and  due  to  the  energetic  efforts  of  the  Supreme 
Council  of  National  Economy  that  the  land  fund  for 
the  sugar  industry  has  been  nationalized.  The  total 
area  of  land  nationalized  for  the  sugar  industry  amounts 
to  600,000  dessiatins. 

The  sugar-beet  industry  has  furnished  the  initial  step 
in  the  development  of  the  rural  industries,  since  this 
particular  industry  has  been  better  preserved  during 
the  transitional  period  of  the  Revolution.  The  alcohol 
industry  occupies  the  next  place.  Its  development  has 
been  begun  by  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Econ- 
omy during  the  last  few  days. 

These  two  large  branches  of  rural  industry  are  fol- 
lowed by  a  number  of  lesser  significance,  such  as  the 


268     ^'BARBAEOUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

production  of  starch,  molasses,  butter,  milk,  tobacco, 
medicinal  herbs,  the  group  of  fibre  plants,  etc.  The 
Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy  is  now  laying 
a  solid  foundation  for  the  development  of  all  these  in- 
dustries. 

What  then  is  the  program  of  action  of  the  Supreme 
Council  of  National  Economy  for  the  development  of 
the  rural  industries?  In  the  first  place,  to  supply  defi- 
nite land  areas  for  the  cultivation  of  certain  plants,  the 
introduction  of  definite  forms  of  agricultural  labor,  and 
of  uniform  management  for  the  manufacturing  and  agri- 
cultural industries,  the  establishment  of  close  connec- 
tions between  the  industrial  proletariat  and  the  citizens 
engaged  in  the  rural  industries. 

Among  the  problems  enumerated  above,  foremost  is 
that  of  uniting  the  industrial  proletariat  with  the  rural 
workers.  The  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy 
has  already  begun  to  work  on  this  task.  Thus  the  indus- 
trial proletariat  is  now  officially  in  possession  of  90,000 
dessiatins  of  land,  on  which  communes  have  been  or- 
ganized. ,  The  crops  from  these  estates  go  to  satisfy  the 
needs  of  the  associations  in  whose  name  the  estates  are 
registered.  At  the  same  time,  the  industrial  proletariat, 
through  participation  in  agricultural  labor,  is  intro- 
ducing new  ideas  into  the  rural  industries. 

The  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy  is  mining 
the  coal  from  the  depths  of  the  earth  and  exploiting  the 
peat  deposits.  In  order  to  utilize  the  resources  com- 
pletely, it  is  paying  particular  attention  to  the  conver- 
sion of  swampy  areas  and  exhausted  turf  deposits  into 
areable  land,  transforming  the  bottom  of  the  exploited 
turf  areas  into  vegetable  gardens,  the  sections  border- 
ing upon  the  swamps  into  artificial  meadows,  and  the 
uplands  into  fields.  During  last  summer  similar  work 
was  accomplished  on  a  considerable  scale  on  the  lands 
of  the  central  electric  station,  in  the  Government  of  Mos- 
cow, the  Ilatur  electric  station,  in  the  Government  of 


APPENDIX  269 

Ryazan,  Gus-Hrustalny,  in  the  Government  of  Vladi- 
mir, and  the  Gomza  estates  in  the  Government  of  Nizhni- 
Novgorod.  Thus,  during  last  summer,  the  work  was 
organized  in  four  central  provinces,  abounding  in  large 
areas  of  land,  which  cannot  be  conveniently  used  for 
agricultural  purposes. 

Simultaneously  the  improvement  of  dwellings,  and  the 
building  of  garden-cities  is  being  given  careful  and  im- 
mediate consideration.  This  work  is  being  carried  on 
by  the  Supreme  Council  of  National  Economy  at  the 
electric  station  of  Kashirsk,  the  Shatur  station  and  the 
Central  Electric  station. 

In  order  to  unify  rural  industries  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil of  National  Economy  has  formed  the  central  admin- 
istration of  agricultural  estates  and  industrial  enter- 
XJrises,  assigning  to  it  the  task  of  uniting  and  develop- 
ing as  far  as  possible,  the  work  of  the  rural  mills. 

The  Central  Administration  of  Agriculture  considers 
it  one  of  its  immediate  problems  to  propagate  widely 
the  idea  of  nationalization  of  land  for  all  iniral  indus- 
tries and  the  opening  of  new  districts  for  those  indus- 
tries. 

In  apportioning  the  land,  especially  valuable  districts 
should  be  set  apart,  such  as  the  meadows,  flooded  with 
water  from  the  Don  river,  fully  suitable  for  the  culti- 
vation of  tobacco,  fibre  plants,  and  olives,  on  a  large 
scale. 

These  lands,  if  distributed  among  the  peasants  will 
never  yield  such  wealth  as  they  could  do  were  they  na- 
tionalized for  rational  exploitation. 

Next  on  the  program  of  the  Central  Administration 
of  Agriculture  is  the  building  up  of  new  branches  of  ru- 
ral industry,  such  as  the  working  of  sugar  beets  into  mo- 
lasses and  into  beet  flour,  in  the  northern  districts,  the 
production  of  ammonium  sulphate  out  of  the  lower 
grades  of  peat,  the  preparation  of  fodder  out  of  animal 
refuse,  the  production  of  turf  litter  material,  the  prep- 


270     ''BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

aration  of  new  sources  of  nitrate  fertilizer  out  of  peat, 
etc. 

Electric  power  must  be  utilized  for  the  cultivation 
of  land.  The  practical  realization  of  this  problem  has 
been  started  on  the  fields  of  the  electric  power  trans- 
mission department.  This  Fall  we  succeeded  in  tilling 
the  ground  by  means  of  a  power-driven  plow. 

In  order  to  build  up  the  rural  industries,  practical 
work  must  be  carried  on,  simultaneously  with  that  which 
is  being  done  on  the  particularly  important  lands,  also 
on  such  lands  as  will  not  be  the  bone  of  contention  be- 
tween the  proletariat  and  the  peasantry. 

What  lands  are  these  ?  The  swampy  areas,  the  forest- 
covered  lands,  those  districts  where  the  people  are  starv- 
ing, the  dry  lands,  the  scarcely  populated  districts,  etc. 

These  are  the  brief  outlines  of  the  program.  The 
foundations  of  absolutely  all  of  the  development  of 
rural  industry  mentioned  have  been  laid  down.  The 
practical  steps  for  the  materialization  of  the  plans  have 
to  some  extent  already  been,  or  are  being,  undertaken. 

All  of  this  work  the  Supreme  Council  of  National 
Economy  had  to  carry  out  under  extremely  difficult  con- 
ditions. Prior  to  that,  a  considerable  part  of  the  sources 
of  raw  material  for  the  rural  industries  has  been  com- 
pletely torn  away  from  the  Soviet  Republic.  Another 
serious  hindrance  was  the  insufficient  number  of  already 
existing  organizations,  which  would  be  capable  of  ful- 
filling the  tasks  outlined  by  the  Council.  A  considerable 
amount  of  harm  has  been  done  to  this  work  by  interde- 
partmental friction. 

But  difficult  as  the  present  conditions  may  be,  and 
no  matter  how  strong  is  the  desire  of  the  former  ruling 
classes  to  turn  back  the  tide  of  life,  this  is  impossible 
and  can  never  take  place. 

CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATION  OF 
AGRICULTURE. 


APPENDIX  271 

NATIONALIZATION  OF  AGRICULTURE 

c — PROM  ''economic  life,"  Nov.  7,  1919. 

The  nationalization  of  agriculture  is  one  of  the  most 
complicated  problems  of  the  Socialist  Revolution,  and 
perhaps  in  no  other  country  is  this  problem  as  complex 
as  in  Soviet  Russia. 

At  the  time  when  the  decree  on  Socialist  land  man- 
agement was  made  public,  the  fundamental  elements  of 
nationalization  had  hardly  begun  to  take  shape :  the  ter- 
ritory affected  by  nationalization  was  by  no  means  de- 
fined; there  was  not  the  personnel  necessary  for  the 
creation  and  enforcement  of  any  plan  concerning  pro- 
duction ;  the  large  masses  of  laborers  hardly  understood 
the  idea  of  nationalization  and  in  some  instances  were 
hostile  to  the  measures  by  means  of  which  the  Soviet 
power  was  carrying  out  the  program  of  nationalization. 

In  order  to  summarize  the  results  of  the  work,  which 
began  on  a  nation-wide  scale  in  March,  1919,  and  to 
estimate  these  results,  one  must  first  realize  the  condi- 
tions which  formed  the  starting-point  for  the  work  of 
the  People's  Commissariat  of  Agriculture  at  the  time 
when  it  commenced  to  carry  out  the  nationalization  of 
agriculture. 

The  extent  of  the  capitalist  heritage,  which  our  or- 
ganized Soviet  estates  now  have  at  their  disposal, 
amounts  to  615,503  dessiatins  or  areable  land,  situated 
in  the  Soviet  provinces  and  formerly  in  the  hands  of 
private  owners.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  areable 
land,  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  landed  aristocracy 
was  taken  over  for  the  purpose  of  both  organized  and 
non-organized  distribution — chiefly  the  latter. 

The  equipment  of  the  various  estates  was  diminished 
and  destroyed  to  no  lesser  extent.  Instead  of  the  386,- 
672  privately  owned  horses,  registered  in  the  Soviet 
provinces,  according  to  the  census  of  1916,  the  Soviet 


272    '^BAEBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

estates  in  the  hands  of  the  People's  Commissariat  of 
Agriculture  received  23,149  horses — a  number  hardly 
sufficient  for  the  cultivation  of  one-third  of  the  area 
under  cultivation  now  belonging  to  the  Soviet  estates. 
Of  the  290,969  cows — only  43,361  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Soviet  estates.  The  entire  number  of  horses 
and  cows  will  yield  sufficient  fertilizer  for  only  13,000 
dessiatins  of  fallow  land,  i.  e.,  about  10  per  cent  of  the 
area  intended  to  be  converted  into  areable  land. 

The  supply  of  agricultural  machinery  and  implements 
was  in  the  same  condition. 

The  Soviet  estates  had  almost  no  stocks  of  provisions. 
The  workmen  were  compelled  either  to  steal  or  to  de- 
sert for  places  where  bread  was  more  abundant. 

The  winter  corn  was  sowed  in  the  fall  of  1918  on 
very  limited  areas  (not  over  25  per  cent  of  the  fallow 
land),  very  often  without  fertilizer,  with  a  very  small 
quantity  of  seeds  to  each  dessiatin.  In  13  out  of  36 
Soviet  provinces  (governments)  no  winter  com  has  been 
sowed  at  all. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  estates  taken  over  by 
the  People's  Commissariat  of  Agriculture  could  not  be 
utilized  due  to  the  lack  of  various  accessories,  such  as 
harness,  horseshoes,  rope,  small  instruments,  etc. 

The  workers  were  fluctuating,  entirely  unorganized, 
politically  inert — due  to  the  shortage  of  provisioning 
and  of  organization.  The  technical  forces  could  not  get 
used  to  the  village;  besides,  we  did  not  have  sufficient 
numbers  of  agricultural  experts  familiar  with  the  prac- 
tical organization  of  large  estates.  The  regulations  gov- 
erning the  social  management  of  land  charged  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  industrial  proletariat  with  a  leading 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Soviet  estates.  But  torn  between 
meeting  the  various  requirements  of  the  Republic  of 
prime  importance,  the  proletariat  could  not  with  suffi- 
cient speed  furnish  the  number  of  organizers  necessary 
for  agricultural  management. 


APPENDIX  273 

The  idea  of  centralized  managemeiit  on  the  Soviet 
estates  has  not  been  properly  understood  by  the  local 
authorities,  and  the  work  of  organization  from  the  very 
beginning  had  to  progress  amidst  bitter  fighting  between 
the  provincial  Soviet  estates  and  the  provincial  offices 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  This  struggle  has 
not  yet  ceased. 

Thus,  the  work  of  nationalizing  the  country's  agricul- 
ture began  in  the  spring,  i.  e.,  a  half  year  later  than  it 
should  have,  and  without  any  definite  territory  (every 
inch  of  it  had  to  be  taken  after  a  long  and  strenuous 
siege  on  the  part  of  the  surrounding  population) ,  with 
insufficient  and  semi-ruined  equipment,  without  pro- 
visions, without  an  apparatus  for  organization  and  with- 
out the  necessary  experience  for  such  work,  with  the 
agricultural  workers  engaged  in  the  Soviet  estates  hav- 
ing no  organization  at  all. 

According  to  our  preliminary  calculations,  we  are  to 
gather  in  the  Fall  of  this  year  a  crop  of  produce  totaling 
in  the  2,524  Soviet  estates  as  follows : 

Poods  Area  in  Dessiatins 

Winter  crop  1,798,711  54,000 

Spring  corn   4,765,790  97,720 

Potatoes  16,754,900  23,754 

Vegetables,   approximately    ....     4,500,000  4,659 

Of  the  "Winter  com  we  received  only  a  little  over  what 
was  required  for  seed  (in  a  number  of  provinces  the 
crops  are  insufficient  for  the  consumption  of  the  workers 
of  the  Soviet  estates). 

The  Soviet  estates  are  almost  everywhere  sufficiently 
supplied  with  seeds  for  the  spring  crops. 

The  number  of  horses  used  on  the  Soviet  estates  has 
been  increased  through  the  additional  purchase  of  12,- 
000  to  15,000. 

The  number  of  cattle  has  also  been  somewhat  in- 
creased. 


274    ^'BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA" 

The  Soviet  estates  are  almost  completely  supplied  with 
agricultural  implements  and  accessories,  both  by  having 
procured  new  outfits  from  the  People 's  Commissariat  for 
Provisioning  and  by^  means  of  energetic  repair  work  on 
the  old  ones. 

The  foundation  has  been  laid  (in  one-half  of  the  prov- 
inces sufficiently  stable  foundations)  for  the  formation 
of  an  organizational  machinery  for  the  administration 
of  the  Soviet  estates. 

Within  the  limits  of  the  Soviet  estates  the  labor  union 
of  the  agricultural  proletariat  has  developed  into  a 
large  organization. 

In  a  number  of  prpvinces  the  leading  part  in  the 
work  of  the  Soviet  estates  has  been  practically  assumed 
by  the  industrial  proletariat,  which  has  furnished  a 
number  of  organizers,  whose  reputation  had  been  suf- 
ficiently established. 

Estimating  the  results  of  the  work  accomplished,  we 
must  admit  that  we  have  not  as  yet  any  fully  nation- 
alized rural  economy.  But  during  the  eight  months  of 
work  in  this  direction,  all  the  elements  for  its  organiza- 
tion have  been  accumulated. 

We  have  strengthened  our  position  in  regard  to  sup- 
plies, having  been  enabled  not  only  to  equip  more  ef- 
ficiently the  Soviet  estates  (2,524)  already  included  in 
our  system  of  organization,  but  also  to  nationalize  dur- 
ing the  season  of  1920  additional  1,012  Soviet  estates, 
with  an  area  of  972,674  dessiatins.  The  combined  area 
of  the  nationalized  enterprises  will  probably  amount 
in  1920  to  about  2,000,000  dessiatins  within  the  present 
Soviet  territority. 

A  preliminary  familiarity  with  individual  estates  and 
with  agricultural  regions  makes  it  possible  to  begin  the 
preparation  of  a  national  plan  for  production  on  the 
Soviet  estates  and  for  a  systematic  attempt  to  meet  the 
manifold  demands  made  on  the  nationalized  estates  by 
the  agricultural  industries:  sugar,  distilling,  chemical, 


APPENDIX  275 

as  well  as  by  the  country's  need  for  stock  breeding, 
seeds,  planting  and  other  raw  materials. 

The  greatest  difficulties  arise  in  the  creation  of  the 
machinery  of  organization.  The  shortage  of  agricul- 
tural experts  is  being  replenished  with  great  difficulty, 
for  the  position  of  the  technical  personnel  of  the  Soviet 
estates,  due  to  their  weak  political  organization,  is  ex- 
tremely unstable.  The  mobilization  of  the  proletarian 
forces  for  work  in  the  Soviet  estates  gives  us  ground  to 
believe  that  in  this  respect  the  spring  of  1920  will  find 
us  sufficiently  prepared. 

The  ranks  of  proletarian  workers  in  the  Soviet  estates 
are  drawing  together.  True,  the  level  of  their  enlighten- 
ment is  by  no  means  high,  but  "in  union  there  is 
strength"  and  this  force,  if  properly  utilized,  will  yield 
rapidly  positive  results. 

In  order  to  complete  the  picture  of  the  agricultural 
work  for  the  past  year  we  are  citing  the  following  fig- 
ures: the  total  expenditures  incurred  on  the  Soviet  es- 
tates and  on  account  of  their  administration  up  to  Jan- 
uary 1st,  1920,  is  estimated  to  amount  to  924,347,500 
roubles.  The  income,  if  the  products  of  the  Soviet  es- 
tates are  considered  at  firm  prices,  amount^  to  843,372,- 
343  roubles. 

Thus,  the  first,  the  most  difficult  year,  has  ended  with- 
out a  deficit,  if  one  excludes  a  part  of  the  liabilities 
which  are  to  be  met  during  a  number  of  years,  i.  e., 
horses  and  implements. 

Of  course,  it  is  not  the  particular  experience  which  the 
workers  possess  that  has  caused  the  favorable  balance 
of  the  Soviet  estates,  this  being  mainly  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  productive  work  in  the  realm  of  agriculture  un- 
der modern  conditions  is  a  business  not  liable  to  lose. 

And  this  is  natural :  industry  in  all  its  forms  depeqds 
upon  the  supply  of  fuel,  raw  material,  and  food.  Na- 
tionalized rural  economy  has  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 


276    *' BARBAROUS  SOVIET  RUSSIA'' 

solar  energy — a  fuel  supply  independent  of  transporta- 
tion of  the  blockade. 

The  fundamental  element  of  production — ^land — does 
not  demand  any  ''colonial"  means  of  restoration  of  its 
productivity.  And  as  for  provisions,  these  we  get  from 
the  earth  under  the  sun ! 

After  eight  months  of  work  on  the  nationalization  of 
our  rural  economy,  as  a  result  of  two  years  of  titanic 
struggle  on  the  part  of  the  proletariat  for  the  right  to 
organize  the  Socialist  industries  with  its  own  hands, — is 
it  not  high  time  to  admit  that  the  most  expedient,  most 
far-sighted,  and  correct  method  to  stabilize  the  Soviet 
power  would  be  to  use  the  greatest  number  of  organized 
proletarian  forces  for  the  work  of  nationalizing  our  agri- 
culture ? 

N.  BOGDANOV. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


ORC 


REND 


Form: 


3  1158  01294  7395 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  728  978 


iililiiilliini 

I 

'I'l'i. 


iiiji 

m 


m 


iijjj 


innm 


ml 


m 


uM 


